The Creation of All Things
by DruidFWY
Summary: He understands how the Universe works; Samsara, cycles, all the same; he was the First Sage and he is now the Second. He was no Child of Prophecy for he knew not the answer to true Peace. For that he searched and he found...The Sage will not repeat his mistakes, he will be there by her side when she fulfils it. Even if it means changing the cycle... GODNARU
1. The Ripple-Eyed Man

**AN: Hello everyone, Druid here with another short story! This idea has been tormenting my head for a long, LONG time and it is about time I just wrote it out. This is a VERY unconventional Naruto x Mass Effect crossover, an experiment of sorts. As with my other short stories, this is also a challenge to authors as well for those trying to make it full-length. I hope it turns out well! Anyway, I will appreciate any constructive reviews or comments. Without further ado, here is the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.**

"Conversation"

**"Powerful being talking/Jutsu"**

* * *

October 9th 2163

Metropolis No. 11, Slums

It was nightfall and rain was heavy... normally this would be the perfect time to go indoors to relax for the day and getting a good night sleep while the raindrops were falling on their roofs.

A little girl around the age of nine was running...sprinting even. In terms of appearance, she was in an appalling state; she was malnourished, her hair was a deep crimson, dulled and soaked by the falling rain, skin was a deathly pale with various bruises and cuts, her emerald-green eyes gleaming is desperation and panic. She was trying to run the fastest her little legs could handle, but why?

Well, it was due to the large number of people, all of them adults were in hot pursuit of this little girl. Most of them brandished weapons, crude ones at that. Something one would get their hands on in the scrap heaps, or lay idle in their storerooms. As such, they were very much rusted metal rods, some of them cleavers and knives. It was very clear to others their motivation for carrying these weapons and chasing after the seemingly harmless child, they were aiming to either kill her or to at least brutally torture.

This leaves to one question, why would they do that?

To start things off, the mob was a group of pro-humans, either too ignorant or too much in denial of the current situation and series of events that have occurred over the many years. Earth was engaging diplomacy with various aliens' races across the Galaxy, and diplomacy means treating them as equals. This without a doubt did not sit well with pro-humanity denizens of earth, believing that humans were the only "natural" and "superior" race in the Galaxy, the inhabitants across the galaxy were freaks, and most importantly "inferior".

One of the things that aliens can perform, from their experiences with their hunts was that aliens were well verse in mass effect manipulation (due to the unlucky few Asari whom by chance came across this part of the city). None of the humans on earth were biotics unless they did implants, and those who are eligible would certainly NOT be here. However, this child, not even in her teens was seen manipulating such energy! Despite being on the poorer side of society, they had televisions, and they read the news. Biotic implants were not performed on children, rather teenagers being the youngest. If that was the case, this child should not be able to use biotics, hence the only conclusion they could reach was that the little "girl" was an alien, a freak and something that needs to be purged from earth.

So...one thing led to another and it surmounted to this moment, they wanted her blood.

* * *

Girl's Point of view

She was an orphan for as long as she could remember, memories of her birth parents were practically non-existent. So she was placed in a Government funded orphanage, she tried hard to be useful and to stay out of people's way most of the time. Despite that, she has been victim of multiple painful assaults by the very intolerant residents of the slums of Metropolis No.11.

All she knew was that many people hated her for either existing or some other reason she could not fully understand. She had inkling, as when she was five, she managed to move an object, a can lying on the ground with nothing but her mind, which was perhaps when her personal hell started. She was in the community park; there were many people there, so news would have spread fast. A few days after that fateful event, families, and their children, even her peers in the orphanage started to glare at her, saying hateful words.

Weeks later, the more passionate and proactive residents started going after her physically; the torture, the beatings and the sheer verbal abuse from the adults AND other kids around her only got worse, some had even gone so far as to call her a "demon".

Though as consolation, no one even considered raping her, being pro-humans and their viewing that the child they were tormenting was NOT human, raping her was considered disgusting. She was slightly thankful for that, but there was always a price for something. Potential rape was instead replaced with even more brutal beatings when they caught eye of the poor girl.

She HATED everyone; she hated the families who glared at her in disdain, the violent mobs, even her peers. She just wished everyone would just disappear; she would rather live her life alone where no one would hurt her.

Through the work of fate, or sheer bad luck, perhaps a bit of both; the red-haired girl slipped due to the wet surface as a result from the rain and fell on her back...in an alley way with no way escape. At this point, her terror exponentially increased, she may have been used to all these pain, but every time she was caught it was downright terrifying since the angry mob never did hold back...perhaps just enough to keep her within an inch of her life if they decide to keep her alive for more torturing in the future.

"You run damn fast you freak! Maybe this time we should just cut off your legs so that you ain't gonna give us any more trouble in the future!" Said a bulky man with various scars on his face, he was often the leader of the pro-human mob and was often responsible for instigating the killings of any wandering non-humans, and her beatings. She did not know his name, nor did she care. The man reached to the girl and held her in a death grip, and landed a few very hard punches to her stomach, so hard that she spit some blood out with each strike.

"Hey boss, what's the point keeping the freak alive anyway? Let's just kill it now and get it over with like we did to those blue skinned demon-bitches!" Said a member of the mob by his side

"Well where is the fun in that then? We are looking at a little one here, the fact that this freak even looks like a human is spitting at out images, the image of REAL MEN AND WOMEN! We will just teach it a few lessons, and when it has "learned" enough, we can just butcher the damn thing!" Replied the scarred man.

"Hell no! We have been doing this for four years boss, we ain't keeping it here any longer, and this demon needs to die NOW! I ain't taking chances when the thing gets strong enough and kills us!" Said the same member of the mob, a lot of the others making approving noises.

The scarred man considered for a moment, and caved in at the pressure, he looked back at the girl in pain, "this is your lucky day freak, four years of lessons and now school's over...the people think you learned your lesson well, so you finally get to die!" With that he took out a rusty pocket knife, very likely to kill her in the slowest and most painful way possible. She saw the rusty knife going for her right eye.

The girl was resigned to her fate, and just hope the pain would only last for a few minutes before the more comfortable embrace of death took her. She was certainly not expecting some miracle; she highly doubts there was a god to watch over her. She lost such faith on the eve of her seventh birthday, when the SAME man carved painful words on her skin with the same knife. She prayed to any God to save her then, but nothing came to help her, she spent several hours in the alley way, unable to move until the more benevolent passerby called the medical dispatch. At least now, on the eve of her birthday, she could be given death, an escape from this hell.

Before the knife reached to touch her eye, she felt a sudden surge of condensed and very palpable energy and it filled the entire alley way, and in moments the very heavy rain miraculously disappeared. It was filled with so much power it was overwhelming, she also observed the scarred man and the rest of the mob were also affected and they literally froze. It was then she heard a man's voice, calm and controlled, but filled with silent fury and the power to back it up.

**"Attacking such a harmless child because she is different, you call yourself humans and yet you stoop yourself so low...pathetic" **she turned around, and so did everyone else, to the source of the voice and saw the silhouette of a man glaring at them coldly. Not much could be seen at this point, but they could discern that he wore a long cloak with a high collar; what she assumed was his hair is somewhat short but spiky, almost giving the impression of horns protruding from his head. He wore a very strange necklace, with six red crystals that glowed in the night.

What made her curious, but unnerved the mob was his eyes; it radiated as much power as the man's whole being. It was a deep metallic purple, with four concentric circles, they had unusual symbols as pupils, and had the same shapes as the necklace he wore surrounding his pupil. It was hypnotic, but she knew it was much more than just that.

It was at that point the scarred man snapped out of his state of shock and slight fear; he mustered his bravado and declared rather loudly and arrogantly, "you certainly don't know how things work around here! We are humans and we hate aliens! This "child" you speak of has shown us that IT is a freak, for performing that alien hickey in public! IT deserves what is coming to IT!"

**"Leave your wretched pretences, bigotry and motivations to yourself whelp. Condemning something you do not understand...humanity has been very much the same for generations upon generations, it sickens me. Such fear, such hate has painted all of your hearts black...there is no more hope for the lot of you" **All the time, the man did not raise his voice, but the girl could clearly detect an overwhelming build up of fury being suppressed, if the insult and harsh words were of any indication.

"Who the fuck are you to judge us, alien sympathiser!?" The man yelled back, moments later he seemed to have noticed the eyes she noticed, the scarred man's face turned murderous, "Wait a minute, your eyes... you ain't human too!" He directed attention back to the mob "well boys! I suppose we will have another freak to purge off our turf. Let's teach him why humans call the shots here!" The rest of the mob snapped back to attention and cheered for the declaration, and started to approach the man in the darkness, intent on bashing him with their makeshift weapons.

In response to the approaching mob, the man in the shadows simply raised his right palm towards them and whispered a word. The mob did not hear it, but for some reason the she could, very clearly in fact

**"Shinra Tensei" **was what he said...she had no idea what it meant, but she knew something messed up was going to happen the moment he said it.

She was very right, less than a second after the ring-eyed man whispered the word, another large surge of the same godlike energy condensed and spurred to the direction of the mob; it smashed into them crushing bones and organs. The unrelenting force flung every person caught in its range across a great distance, close to 10 metres. She could hear the sound of the falling bodies, and numerous resounding cracks, obviously signifying broken bones. Despite being nine, she was bright and what had just happened in front of her came very close to gravity being manipulated to a point where it could be used as a VERY destructive weapon.

Many from the mob were dead from the sheer force of the attack, and from the fall from being flung. Those lucky enough to survive the attack AND had their legs intact gave up and started running as far from the scene as possible. The...God for the lack of a better description disregarded the fleeing members, almost as if they were so insignificant to him. Instead, his eyes were fixed back at the scarred aggressor, who is still holding on to her neck. Said man had his eyes wide in horror, a very reasonable state of being considering the "non-human" he urged his mob to attack were flung back with such ease and some in fact already dead. There was NO WAY he could survive... he would die or at the very least be crippled for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, the girl's thoughts and observations ended abruptly when her tormenter place herself in front of him with the knife pointed to her neck. Such luck, just when she thought this bastard could finally just die, he just had to take a last resort escape classic, hostage. It was then she heard the bastard talk again, this time his voice laced in fear and panic rather than arrogance...

"S-S-STAY BACK, DO THAT SHIT AGAIN AND I AM STICKING THIS KNIFE INTO THE FREAK'S NECK, YOU WANNA SAVE THE THING RIGHT? JUST STAY PUT AND DON'T MOVE, LET ME GO!"

The ring-eyedman just continued his impassive stare, almost as if considering whether to take the bastard seriously or not. In moments he thought of something, and took action. He pointed his right index finger at the scarred man, and whispered something else, which she could hear as well...

**"Raiton: Byakurai"**, energy accumulated and focused on his index finger, and in less than a second a single bolt of white lightning exploded from his finger and bolted towards and through the bastard's right shoulder. The scarred man wailed in pain and drops both his knife and her person, his left hand now clutching his right shoulder. As she fell to the ground she heard the man whisper another word.

**"Bansho Ten'in"** She could see the scarred bastard's body being dragged towards him by NOTHING and in moments, had the bastard held by the neck in a death grip.

**"There is no hope for you, a disgrace to humanity, a disgrace to life; you will bear the ultimate punishment for the unnecessary deaths you have caused, and the pain and suffering you have inflicted to the innocents...perish." **She saw his other hand raised and firmly took hold of the bastard's head, and moments later he made a ripping motion...no that is just impossible.

She then saw it with her own eyes; the man was literally ripping out the bastard's soul from his body and in seconds they were fully separated. The body of the man fell lifelessly to the ground, and the spectre of the man being held by what she was now damn sure was the closest thing to a God. She then saw the spectre slowly disintegrating, with it screaming in pure anguish almost as if being burned by the flames of the Sun itself. It was a haunting sound which lasted in a long ten seconds. By the time the spectre was gone, that bastard who tormented her had literally ceased to be.

Despite her state of awe and fear of the power being demonstrated, the girl remained focused on the form of her very mysterious saviour. Moments after the deed was done, her saviour's eyes diverted back to her; with that she gulped hard. She was still unsure of whether to relax even when her aggressors were gone, she had spent years distrusting others and any act of kindness from any normal person she received would make her suspicious.

Then again, her saviour DID look far from normal...

The pressure and power that saturated her surroundings before had now fully dissipated, and the power radiating from the man was now gone, although his eyes looked the same. It was then he took a few steps closer to her and moved under the moonlight, she could finally see how her saviour looked like in earnest, upon witnessing him she had to hold back a blush.

His hair was a golden blonde, and he was wearing a very unusual plated headband with an odd spiral symbol that looked like his eyes and had horns on it, that explained his hair. His face was angular, and she would hazard a guess that he was at most 30 years old, maybe slightly younger. Despite being barely ten years old, she was a lot wiser and more intelligent for her age, thus she knew the conventions of physical attraction and this man was certainly quite handsome. She did note that under the moonlight, she managed to catch very faded scars on his cheeks, which looked like whiskers, but she had to look hard enough. What he wore was certainly very unusual as well. She was right about the cloak, it was unzipped it was a dark grey in colour with flame patters at its edges; she did not get a chance to look at his back though. Beneath the cloak he wore some kind of light plated armour which look absolutely ANCIENT. Besides of his hypnotic eyes, the last striking aspect of his appearance was his perpetually glowing jewelled necklace, she had a closer look at it; there were six identical jewels which looked like red commas, an odd design...

The man was now within arm's reach to her, and he did just so, he reached for one of her arms which bore generous amounts of bruises and some cuts, his palm now glowing a faint green. She felt herself flinch, was he trying to silence her? Perhaps to kill her himself?

Her eyes widened, as his glowing palm now over her wounded arms was literally healing her wounds faster than any form of contemporary first aid! It did not even hurt; rather it was calming and warm. She glanced back at her saviour's eyes; there was warmth in them instead of the cold apathy shown previously. She abandoned _some_ of her distrustful instincts and relaxed, albeit slightly but it was a big start.

After a few minutes with his palm over most of her wounds, he finally spoke again, though the commanding and oppressive calm voice was now replaced with that of kindness.

"What is your name child?" It was a simple question, all she needed to do was tell him her name, but despite relaxing ever so slightly she was still tense and hence hesitant to respond. Instead she shyly look at her saviour's face; instead of any form of impatience, he had a slight supportive smile that matched his warm eyes, with that she fully relaxed and for the first time in a long time she willingly responded to someone's question.

"J-just Erza...my n-name is Erza", she could not believe it, she hardened herself and placed a fifteen inch thick wall around her heart, she would hardly say a word to anyone unless forced to and here she was fully disarmed by the warm smile given by the man she knew for...practically thirty minutes. Furthermore, she was stammering!

"Erza, this is a beautiful name. No need to worry child, that _man_ will not hurt you anymore, no one will hurt you from this moment on. You have lived quite a dreadful life, a life that should not be lived by anyone, especially someone like you. Have faith, this living hell will end in time...keep strong and there will always be light in the darkest of abyss." He had an odd expression on his face, almost reminiscing about something.

Erza was puzzled; there was something she wanted to ask him from the moment he started to show _sincere_ kindness to her. It seemed like he did not want anything in return, but she could not believe that for one moment until she knew of his motivation. It was now or never, she had to ask him!

"Why?" with that the man focused on her again, she continued "why are you ...so kind to me? We have only met...I am a freak...I make things move without touching them, I scare people away, people _hate_ me."

The man's face hardened, he responded in a firm voice, "Erza, child, you are not a freak, you are far from it! Do not allow their words affect you, they are foolish, each and every one of them. You are special, an outstanding little girl who will grow up and make a difference in this world and perhaps beyond. I believe you, but you must believe in yourself, even when no one else does."

Erza was shocked to hear those words; NO ONE gave her any words of encouragement or even say anything that remotely indicated she was anything else other than a freak. The emotional backlash from what he said was too great, in moments she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She tried to hold it in but it was too hard, thus the floodgates were opened. She broke down cried on the man's shoulder, venting out all the pent up sorrow and pain she knew so intimately over the four painful years in this personal hell.

The man hugged her; she did not see his soft and almost pained smile when he did so. There was a comfortable silence while Erza cried her heart out, she had no idea how long it took, but in time she calmed down and the man spoke again "you asked why I chose to help you. The answer is simple, it was the right thing to do, and no child deserved such a life and a _man _like him does not deserve to exist in this world with what he has done... Besides, you reminded me of myself, and someone very precious to me." With that she was curious; she gave the man a questioning look. The man chuckled and responded "that is a story for another time, a time when you and I will meet in earnest again."

Erza fully understood what that meant, he was going to leave! She was once again panicking; she did not want him, a person whom seemed to be sincere to her, to leave! With all her strength, she tried to cling to his person and silently begging him not to go. She did not want to be alone anymore!

"There is no need to worry Erza, we may not be able to meet each other in person in the near future, but I WILL not abandon you. One day we _will_ meet again, it is just a question of time, perhaps when you are all grown up, that is THE promise of a lifetime. I will always be with you child. Grow up strong, grow up brave, and when you are strong, protect others in need, do what is right."

Erza was somewhat relieved that he promised her he will return, she may not know when but she hoped it would be soon. The man ruffled her crimson hair and as he did so she saw beautiful white feathers falling in front of her eyes and her consciousness slowly slipping, he heard him whisper another word that she could not understand, **"Nehan Shouja no Jutsu"**, whatever he did, she felt increasingly sleepy. Before she would succumb to slumber, she looked back at her saviour and asked him one final question, something that she should have asked a long time ago. She asked for his name.

"I am a wandering sage, just call me Rikudou".

* * *

**AN: ****There is a Rinnegan in action here (which I firmly believe is not used AT ALL so far)! *gasp* though the description I placed makes it looks different, no? IT is not an Original Rinnegan, but what I felt would be a completed one (or a second stage) useable only by the Rikudou Sennin.**

**Anyone wishing to see how this Rinnegan looks like, google ****Naruto manga chapter 510 page 11****, and there it is! **

**Well, what do you think? This is once again another plot bunny that has to be put into a story; this short story will take two chapters. I reiterate, much like the other one-shots/two-shots I have posted, they can also roll over as challenges and are open for any good and willing writer. **

**Just to let all of you know, the ME universe in my head would be very much AU so there WILL be differences between the events in this short story and ME canon. **

**I really hope someone will consider making a full-length of this story, most ME/Naruto crossover often place the Naruto-verse as a separate planet and him conveniently being a crew in the Normandy. I did like NeonZangetsu's approach to a Reaper Naruto, but others were practically the same or similar so I got bored. So far...what have we learned from this? Who is the Ripple-Eyed man? Who is Erza? I think it is quite obvious, but her identity will be revealed (or implied) by the second chapter.**

**Until then!**

**Druid**


	2. Fates and a God

**AN: ****So...I posted the first chapter of my short story, and let it "simmer" per se. When I look back I was...flabbergasted! 12 Reviews! I was expecting a lot less, maybe 3 to 5 at most. I also received so many favs and follows! I was pleasantly surprised, so my heartfelt thanks to all of you! This is my first time getting such warm reception, since the stories and challenges I have posted so far were quite REMOTE (i.e. unexplored by readers/authors). What was I thinking when I wrote Gears of War/Vocaloid story...oh yes Plot Bunnies.**

**Some of you have posted questions on the first chapter, and one reviewer even attempted to answer the 'take-away questions' I so casually asked. Well, it is pretty darn obvious who Ripple-Eyes man is no? Well it is Naruto, who else could it be? For those whom are still thinking who Erza is (there could be some), her identity would not be revealed/implied yet. I tried to finish this story by this chapter, but alas...**

**Why you may ask? Because this Chapter WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN! This plot bunny has just evolved and I felt inclined to expand on this short story a little longer. Perhaps instead of 2 chapters in total, it would be 3 to 4.**

**For those whom are wondering the "odd pupil" on Naruto's Rinnegan AND have not seen the prescribed Manga Chapter and page, it is the Yin/Yang symbol. Majority of the story is focused on Erza's POV so she would have no idea what it is hence "odd pupil". **

**I will stop my comments now and get on with the story, so I hope you will enjoy it because I enjoyed writing it! Once again, appreciate any reviews or comments!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.**

"conversation"

_"thought"_

"**powerful being talking/Jutsu"**

"[Elementaris conversation] i.e. Shinobi Language"

* * *

Rikudou's Point of View:

He cast the sleeping genjutsu on the little red-head, he could see her falling closer into a slumber. Frankly, Erza is very sweet girl; the only problem was all the pain and torture she was subjected to. Her experiences turned her into a mess, and something that _should _not be there, in the darkest parts of her mind was born from the hell she was subjected to.

He had seen her posture, guarded to the very end until she broke down and cry on his shoulder. She was very soft-spoken and her voice was bitter, and when he looked into her eyes, he felt her pain and her hate...it was not the eyes a girl as young as her should ever have. There were so many old bruises and cuts, some of them potentially fatal; it is a wonder how she managed to survive from them, let alone moving and talking. She reminded him of a time long passed, a time he wished he could forget. Though he had to admit his bitter memories lack _that much_ physical abuse. What really pained him was her resemblance to his most precious person, someone whose mind and soul he could never see again.

"(Yawns) what is your name... sir?" He heard the girl said, her voice was slightly slurred and was relaxed, genjutsu obviously taking effect. Well, he should have seen this question coming but considered whether to give her his name at the moment. Hearing the red-head sounding so at ease made him lighten up, he wanted to keep it that way.

He was not his very late Godfather, FAR from that but he could guarantee that if this little girl, Erza grew up well, she would surely be a heart-breaker, and if she was anything like him in his younger days, she would be pretty dense and unaware of it.

But still... he HAD to answer her question. Thinking up a sufficiently elusive and mysterious response, he gave his answer.

Despite his VERY long life, he felt the need to leave an impression, so what better way to do it than being an enigma?

"I am a wandering sage, just call me Rikudou", a pretty good job if he says so himself...

"(Yawns)...weird name..." she heard her say before finally falling asleep. The now named Rikudou chuckled, but he had an internal face-fault, how could she not... oh he was not in Japan now, that place really reminded him of home, though all the people there looked _different_; there were no red-heads, no blondes and certainly no dark-skinned people, they were all across the world, more focused to the farther West.

Though it would be reasonable to assume that the girl had no idea what it meant...how did he overlook that?

He ended his internal rant and looked back at Erza. He could not help but admire at how peaceful the girl in his arms was when she was finally asleep. At that point in time, she could pass up as any young, innocent little girl without any worries in the world. He knew when she wakes up; this peaceful look would be gone again.

With that he got to work on the other task other than saving her from those monsters. He cast a weak fire Jutsu to dry up and warm the floor, and laid the girl down. He summoned a brush and black ink out of thin air and pulled back the girl's tattered shirt, exposing her deathly pale stomach. With that he got to work; he drew a very complex series of markings and symbols in an ancient language, and in about ten minutes, there was a very intricate seal drawn on her navel.

Before he completed the procedures, there was a shift in the wind and in seconds, there were six silhouettes, standing behind Rikudou and the sleeping girl. Rikudou turned back and spoke in the same ancient language, which is akin to Earth's Japanese but still very much different.

"[You know what to do, all of you. Keep an eye on chibi-chan when I am...indisposed. I will also have to keep the darkness in her at bay; Tendou, Ningendou, both of you have quite a task ahead. Take good care of her...and make sure she does not succumb to her darker emotions.] "

The six human-shaped figures gave curt nods but remained where they were; Rikudou gave a lingering look to "Tendou" and "Ningendou", his rippled eyes giving off a hint of sadness as well as an almost grim determination."[I will not let history repeat itself, not to another one, not to her... and I _will _keep my promise]" he mumbled to himself. It was then Rikudou decided to complete the procedure. He did a series of complex hand seals in very rapid successions, making his arms a blur to the naked eye.

"**Gedou: Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin**", Rikudou declared, this time loud and clear rather than a whisper, upon declaration a large mass of black and white energy surged out from his body and saturated. Soon Rikudou's body was fully cloaked in the overwhelming energy, and his forms slowly dissipated, as the energy became more vivid. "_Looks like there are perks with being a chakra construct after all...I will always be with you Erza. You may just find the answer I never could, and perhaps bring the cycle to a stop...and I will be there to see you through it._" were his last thoughts before he became one with the maelstrom and turned fully intangible.

At that point the maelstrom of mystical energy with Rikudou in it surged towards girl on the floor and made contact with the pattern drawn on her navel. In time the energy surrounded her frail form until she was fully covered by it, it took a minute or so until all of the energy merged with the pattern on her stomach, the seal markings glowed black, then white, before it faded, leaving only the black markings visible. Throughout the process, the girl was still miraculously, sound asleep.

The six individuals remained un-moving throughout the phenomenon, as still as statues. Only after the sealing was complete did one of the six approach the sleeping child to carry her back to the orphanage. The other five went to the corpses that littered the ground and performed the relevant fire jutsus to burn their bodies. Those from the mob who were still breathing had their necks slit by the figures before having their bodies burned as well.

Whilst the sixth individual brought Erza back to her room, her sleep became a lot more uneasy.

* * *

Unknown Dreamscape:

Erza's Point of view:

Erza had no idea where she was but she did NOT want to be here, all she knew was that she was walking on what would be an accurate description of a battlefield, more specifically a town under siege. The town she was in was something she had not seen before, an odd mix of modern as well as ancient architecture. For most part, the place was in shambles, most of its buildings destroyed, some were on fire. It was the peak of night and the full-moon was up. If it was not for the sheer destruction around her, she would have appreciated its beauty for a while.

There were corpses littering the streets, almost as if they were all just recently massacred. They wore odd clothes, they adorned 21st century flak jackets, but what caught her attention were their headbands, they were similar to her saviours but lacked the horns; furthermore the symbols on the plates were an odd cross between a spiral and a leaf.

She did not want to stay there any longer, so she started to run; not sure where she was heading, as long as it was away from the bona-fide killing grounds. Not long later, she saw more of the strange people; they were alive and were running towards a specific location, apparently they did not see her OR were not aware of her presence. With nowhere to go, Erza followed them. She had to run fast to catch up to them, but surprisingly she did not tire, then she realised it was a dream so it did not matter. She saw more rubble, and many other similar people leaping off the roofs of the buildings. She also caught a glance of the odd posters and banners of the various buildings; they were all in a language she could not understand.

She also passed by areas where fights took place a distance away, there were more of those strangers fighting humanoid armoured beings. The armoured humanoids resembled those Japanese warriors she caught a glance of from televisions, though the pieces of armour were all attached together by purple flames. All of the humanoid beings were wielding elegant curved swords which were engulfed in the same purple flames as the humanoids themselves. The opposing side stood no chance and were being cut down effortlessly by the flaming armours.

Not long after following the group of strangers, she reached to what she assumed was the town square, it was also in rubbles. A lot of people were there, all wearing the same headband as those she found dead. All of them had looks of shock, awe and most prominently, _fear_. Erza wondered what could give them such strong emotions, so she looked up and followed their vision.

That was when she saw him again

Standing on nothing but air, was the unmistakeable figure of her saviour, Rikudou, he looked exactly the same, from the short, spiky blonde hair, horned headband through to his mesmerising eyes. His entire being was overflowing with visible WHITE energy that his entire person lit up brightly. His face lacked no apathy or calmness that she came to know of from meeting him, but instead it was unshackled, unhidden and unbridled RAGE. She noticed a distance away behind him, were six other figures floating as well, but they were spaced out evenly and generously between each other, and all of them were covered by the shadow of darkness. Well all except their eyes, which were glowing brightly. She had to narrow her eyes to focus on their images; it was hard to see their general form from such a distance. However she did notice they wore similar long flowing cloaks much like her saviour AND they had similar eyes, though theirs were less elaborate; they were still a metallic purple with four concentric circles but lacked the Rikudou's odd pupil and comas surrounding it.

From the way they are positioned, the power radiating off each and every one of them and the fact that they were FLOATING, it almost felt like she was looking at vengeful Gods, ready to pass judgement to the people on the ground.

She then heard a shout in an unknown language from one of the people in the crowd; she diverted her attention to the source of the attention and saw a heavily bandaged man, his face contorted in rage and fear. Behind him were a group of masked men in strange but form-fitting armour.

Whatever he was saying, it sounded desperate, angry, and fearful, it sounded like he was appealing to her saviour for something, but managed to make it sound condescending. Rikudou glared at the man and directed some of his oppressive aura towards him. The man fell to his knees and was gasping for air. It seemed that the masked individuals did not take too kindly to his saviour's gesture and started throwing knives at him. She was surprised by the force and speed behind the mask people's throws; they were almost as fast as bullets. For a brief moment she was worried that Rikudou would not be able to dodge it...but her worries were for naught.

From what she could see, the knives stopped midair, possibly inches from her saviour's face; and without warning they changed their directions back towards the masked people who threw them and in less than a second they disappeared and were firmly planted into each masked man's skull. All of them were dead before they hit the floor. Once again, she was at awe at such a display, it was as if nature and reality itself was his to command.

With that interlude done, she heard her saviour make a speech in a booming voice, loud enough for everyone to hear; Erza wanted to know what he was saying but alas she could not.

Then she saw Rikudou enclosed his arm, forming a black ball of void-like energy in his hands, he ended his angry speech with some declaration, but his voice was softer and sounded resigned, then he whispered something that she should in all honesty not be able to hear considering the distance but could nevertheless hear it clearly. Deep in her subconscious she knew that something would happen when he finished the word.

**"Chibaku Tensei"**, then a very BRIGHT light overwhelmed her vision to the point that she had to block her eyes, she heard the echoes of screams coming from the crowd, but they were dimming.

* * *

Transition:

She opened her eyes again after the blinding light was gone, and she took a look around. She gasped when she saw where she was, it was a place she did not want to see ever again.

It was the same alley way she was at when the scarred bastard almost killed her; the only difference was...there were corpses EVERYWHERE. All of them were bodies of the people, whom tormented her, and of the angry mobs, some of them lacked limbs, others had their bodies literally crushed and some were horribly mutilated. She was in a shock, everyone she had ever hated were there, ALL of them dead, in the most horrifying and gruesome way possible.

It was then she heard a giggle behind her.

She looked around, and there, sitting on the wet floor was a VERY familiar person...herself. The lookalike had her entire body especially her hair covered in blood that was very likely not hers, head lowered and hair blocking her face. She was giggling, and for some reason she did not like that sound. It sounded, _insane_.

**"Queen...how nice of you to join me...so like what you see?"**, her lookalike raised her head and she saw it; a mirror of herself, but the only difference was that she had a manic grin, her eyes glowing with bloodlust, hate, malice and not to mention her face was covered in blood.

"Who..w-wha..." Erza tried speaking but was too shell-shocked to say anything.

**"Who am I, **_**what**_** am I? Well that is a simple answer, I am you...or perhaps what would have been you if our dreamy Ripple-Eyed **_**God**_** did not save us..." **said her insane lookalike in a sing-song voice.

Erza managed to rein in her shock and ask her image a question, "w-why are you here?"

Her lookalike gave her a deceptively sweet smile and wagged her finger, **"oh silly girl, I have always **_**been **_**here. I became part of you since your little magic trick four years ago. All your pain, your sorrow, your hate and your anger **_**made**_** me. Perhaps if it wasn't for **_**him**_**, I would have been the one to have killed the scarred asshole, and every single one of those bastards. After all, WE ARE freaks, aren't we?"** the eyes of her insane lookalike glowed and in moments, both her eyes burned with ominous green flames. At that last statement, her smile turned into a vicious and toothy grin.

Her surroundings started to shake violently, cracks forming on the alley walls as well as the floors, her insane lookalike had an ominous red aura surrounding her, red lightning-like energy vividly coursing through her entire being. The corpses and bodies around her floated for a brief moment, and exploded in a shower of blood leaving only crimson puddles on the floor and walls. Moments later waves after waves of painful memories flooded her mind; Erza could not take it anymore, she fell to her knees and screamed the loudest she could, the memories the last four years too unbearable to relive.

And as quickly as it happened, the shaking, and the memories stopped. Erza breathed a shaky sigh of relief, and managed to will herself to look up, and she saw her lookalike who was already standing, looking down at her. She had a pout on her face, which was unnerving.

**"We were **_**waiting**_** for that moment to come...**_**he **_**had to take it away from us, BORING! But maybe...someday we can have our fun, we will get a chance to see the people we hate to fall down and bleed to death, just a matter of time no? Who knows...maybe one day I will be the Queen instead?" **

Her face then turned bright and cheerful, **"So, see you around Queen! Don't be a stranger when you feel lonely you hear? Right now, get out of here before I rip out your eyes!" **She spoke the last sentence whilst waving her hands back at her. It was then, everything started to fade; before Erza could fully leave this nightmarish dreamscape she heard her voice of insanity giving her a last comment,

**"Looks like **_**destiny AND a God **_**has taken a fancy to us, wouldn't you think so."**

* * *

**AN: ****How was it? I really hope it turned out well, let me know about it! Some more demonstration of a Godlike Naruto in the first half of the Chapter...oh and what do you think about the "armoured humanoids". Since I outright show Naruto wielding a TRUE Rinnegan and no one really knows what it can do, I thought why not allow the wielder to use advanced Onmyoton (Yin/Yang release) to summon Chakra armour and give them the ability to function independently like soldiers? I was inspired by Tetsu no Kuni's Ultra-Samurais, Infernals from Warcraft and Nazguls.**

**As I said before, this chapter was not part of the plan. But I had a sudden surge of inspiration after thinking about how most RinneganNaruto never emphasised on the awesomeness that is the Sage of Six Paths, AND trying to emphasise on Erza's bad experiences affecting her psyche and hence developing her character enough which was slightly inspired by Elfin Lied. **

**By the way, just so you know ONLY Naruto knows Chakra, so Erza was not demonstrating chakra manipulation. It is however still Biotic abilities but she is special since she needed no surgery or implants. If you see her dark/insane side, you may have noticed how POWERFUL she is, practically Jack times 5. **

**This will be the last chapter I will be posting for about...three weeks or so. I have commitments that I need to take care off (*cough* Exams *cough*). Hopefully I can wrap this short-story up by then and post the challenge in earnest. **

**What have we learned this chapter? What did Naruto do to Erza? Did you see that coming? **

**If not...that was my attempt at being Non-Conventional. Thanks everybody!**

**Druid**


	3. Earthborn

**AN:****Well, I have gone through this epic ordeal, I have seen things no person should see, faced sobering trials and tribulations...and this ordeal is called Exams.**

**Well now they are done, and there is now light at the end of the tunnel. So in recognition to the end of the exams, I am giving you an update to this short story on the same day my last exam was done. **

**Once again, I am really surprised with all the wonderful follows, favs and some reviews! Thank you everyone!**

**By the way, I made some minor alterations to Chapter 2, when Erza met her insane persona. Nothing too extreme but another aspect of Erza's super-biotics being unique from every other ME character known so far, I also included the new aspect of the biotic power in this chapter. **

**Also, this chapter will likely finalise everyone's thoughts as to who Erza is, in case any of you do not know yet. So let's just get this over with this**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.**

"conversations"

**"powerful being talking/Jutsu"**

* * *

October 10th 2163:

Erza's eyes snapped open, she gasped and sat up, she was in her bedroom in the orphanage and it was still late at night, she was not in that forsaken alley and that insane personification of her was nowhere to be seen, for that she was thankful. It was at that moment when she realised what happened last night, the running, the alley, her near death and finally...him.

She looked around the room hoping to find him with her, but to no avail. It was then, Erza started to doubt...

Did her saviour Rikudou really exist, or was it just the product of her last speck of hope in a miracle? Some kind of cruel parody of a dream to keep her hopes up, only to squash it down when the heavy weight of reality came back? Perhaps, no one saved her; maybe the incident in the alley did not even take place. Maybe the scarred bastard was still alive, waiting to continue her torment, carve another word on her skin with that rusty knife or perhaps to kill her...

That dream, the moment she 'met' her insane other and what she said, it reminded Erza of what many people called her every day.

_**"We are freaks, aren't we?"**_

Erza started shaking, both her hands grabbing her head, her more lucid thoughts muddled from what her insane other had said, and from hearing what was essentially part of her admitting she was indeed a freak.

She heard that word so many times, been beaten to an inch of her life as often as she was called an abomination; so much so that over the past four years that she has lost count. Almost everyone whom met her, the kids in the orphanage, people on the streets, and her abusers, they kept saying the same thing over and over again, most of them after physically torturing her. She did not want to hear them, she did not want to let those hurtful words and all those pain get to her, but then again she was a still a kid she did not fully understand the her place in this world; rinse and repeat those physical and mental abuse, eventually she might just believe that perhaps they were right.

Well, that dream was proof that she was starting to believe what they called her was indeed correct; she was...everything they said she is.

Erza started crying again, four very _painful_ years, everyone hated her, everyone despised her. Some would rather just kill her off or maim her if given the chance. If her saviour, Rikudou was just a part of a cruel dream, it meant everything would remain the same; she was still alone fending for herself. Suffice to say she was losing this very uphill battle, her mind was breaking, it was a matter of time before the people around her decided to end her life...or she would end it herself.

_**"Or YOU could end THEIR lives, so that all these pain can stop, wouldn't that be fun?" **_A clear and familiar voice sounded from the dark recesses of her mind.

She heard herself think, that much was certain, but at the same time she did not want to have that thought in her head. As much as she hated everyone around her, she still could not fathom the notion of fighting back. She wanted to be alone, but to kill was still too much for her to consider.

_**"nonsense Queen, you KNOW what you are capable of. WE know what we are capable of. What is mine is yours, you have to admit...when you saw those assholes dead in the most fucked-up ways possible I could feel your satisfaction. The dream was SO clear was it not? As crisp as a fresh spring morning..."**_

Erza tried to block off her darker side from talking, but the voice in her head remained strong. She knew what her voice of insanity said was very much true, she hated what she was for thinking this way, but all the same she enjoyed the moments when she saw their corpses in her dream.

Inadvertently, Erza's eyes started to glow a pale green, red lightning-like energy started to course through her. In her room, things started to float, the bed she was sitting on started to shake and so did everything else that were not floating.

_**" we are one of the same Queen, just admit you would rather skewer, cleave and mutilate every single one of those assholes, maybe liquefy their flesh leaving only their charred bones. They wanted to see a demon, they wanted to see a freak, let them see one. Let the image of a monster be the last thing they see before we rip their head off from their bodies. We have the power; all YOU need to do is embrace it."**_

Slowly but surely, Erza was becoming increasingly convinced by her insane other, her days in this hellhole were numbered. They would kill her eventually, so why not take the initiative and destroy them before they could reach her? After all, a part of her knew she could destroy them utterly, her other was aware of it...

Erza's face slowly contorted into a vicious grin, similar to the one displayed by her insane other. Her green eyes glowed brighter and a faint green fire flickered to life and both her eyes burned with a pale green flame, her eyes were literally on fire. The shaking in her room became even more violent and some of the floating objects around her started to break into pieces from raw energy emitting from her entire being. The red energy surrounding became more saturated and visible, very much the same in intensity as her insane other.

_**" here's the deal Queen, we will merge, we will be one as it should have been the moment I was born from this hell. Say yes, and you will gain power everlasting, power you should have rightfully used to make those you hate bleed, watch their life slowly flicker out...make them choke in their own blood! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS ACCEPT!"**_

Her mind was almost at a breaking point, she just wanted all the pain to end, all those who wronged her to disappear, one way or another. If killing them could grant her this wish, this was certainly a fair trade, she did not need to hope, she did not need to take this hell any longer.

She was about to succumb to her darkest desires, but she did not notice her navel started to glow white, ancient marking light up. When that took place, she heard another familiar voice, not her voice of insanity, but rather the familiar voice of someone she thought was part of her imagination, part of her dream...

_"keep strong and there will always be light in the darkest of abyss."_The voice was merely a whisper, but was calm, warm and reassuring, the same voice of her saviour when he talked to her. Erza's train of thought froze, her desire to merge with her insanity slowly but surely waned. What was she thinking? How could she accept her insanity and become something she always hated to be, a monster?

_**"KEEP OUT OF THIS Ripple Eyes! Queen knows what she has to do! You better not interfere or I will rip out your intestines and strangle you wi..." **_her voice of insanity faded from her mind. Her mind was finally silent, after that very familiar whisper from her saviour; she managed to reel back her darker emotions, keeping it bottled up again.

The flames that covered her eyes subsided, the red energy coursing through her halted, and finally all the objects that were floating fell back down and the little furniture she had stopped shaking. It was then Erza suddenly slumped back to her bed, and she started to weep softly. She was so close to losing herself, so close to turning a part of Metropolis No. 11 into a massacre. They were right all along, she was an abomination, and her previous thoughts were evidence of that.

It was the she heard his whisper again from her memories, _" You are special, an outstanding little girl who will grow up and make a difference in this world and perhaps beyond. I believe in you, but you must believe in yourself, even when no one else does."_

She had her reservations when she remembered what he said, but she could not help but trust his words, even if they were real or not. She tried to muster whatever hope and faith she had left of her future, and hardened herself again.

Soon, her weeping stopped and she returned to an uneasy sleep, mentally drained from that ordeal, too tired to deal with the mess in her room.

* * *

Sometime later:

When Erza finally woke up again, she had took look at the clock by her side, it was late morning. She then looked around her room and scowled, it was a real mess with fallen and broken objects laying on the floor and everywhere else. At that point, she recalled what happened earlier... the objects floated again through her will and mind alone. Perhaps she could try something...

She raised her hand towards a book, willing it to come to her and she was certainly shocked with the results. She saw red energy coursing through her outstretched hand and the space between her and the book distorted and in less than a second the book was pulled through the air and into her hand. She tried to think of herself as a freak like they said again, but she tried to block that thought away. Erza certainly did not want to risk another mental breakdown and let her darker self take over.

So she tried to divert her thoughts away by packing up the mess she caused. By the time she had done it, she looked at herself, she did not take a shower yet and she had grime and dirt all over herself.

Erza went through the morning rituals and was about to take a shower, she felt somewhat _lucky_ that the room she was given came with its own lavatory. After splashing some water on her face, she gave a big sigh and spoke to herself...

"Well Erza, happy birthday...you are ten today, make a wish...well I wish this year will not be a living hell, though that is a big ask." she ended her bitter statement and took a look at herself in the mirror facing the sink, her eyes widened marginally.

Whenever Erza look at herself in the mirror, she had expected a pale, bruised and almost sickly face looking back at her; years of malnutrition and physical abuse would do that but instead it was something different entirely. Her skin colour was still alabaster, but the blue-black colouration and bruises she had yesterday were gone and looked healthier, the dark circles surrounding her eyes were also gone, her emerald coloured orbs were usually dull, are now bright and filled with life.

And lastly, her dull red hair was now longer, before it merely falls to her upper back now reached to her waist and was a brighter and deeper crimson. These were not significantly drastic that people would actually notice outright, but she has grown acquainted to her sickly appearance that in comparison, she might as well have fox ears and a tail!

Erza became increasingly curious, and she started to scrutinise every part of her body where her wounds SHOULD be. She checked her arms, her legs and found that they were no signs of her accumulated injuries. The only sign of her once fatal wounds were faded scars, though still quite clear there was nothing else. When she finally reached to check her stomach, she gasped at what she saw.

Right there, on her navel was a very intricate series of patterns and markings circling it, with an odd spiral symbol at the centre. There were also words written alongside the patterns surrounding her navel which looked exactly like the words she saw in her dream. She had no idea where it came from but its sudden appearance concerned her.

Erza took off her clothes and rushed into the shower. She tried washing off the pattern with water and soap but it would not come off, it remained as vivid as before much like a well-made tattoo. After minutes of doing so, she just gave up and begins drying herself.

* * *

A while later:

She was now lying back on her bed, it IS her birthday and she felt she had the right to do something that did not involve being beaten up, belittled or insulted; so lazing around was something she wanted to do. She pulled up her shirt and looked at the drawn-up pattern on her stomach, there was something mesmerising and hypnotic about the patterns and the spiral; as she spent minutes after minutes just looking at its design and intricate writings, she almost could have sworn she saw the markings glow black and then white...odd.

She placed her palm on the now faintly glowing pattern, and upon doing so she felt a surge of energy coursing through her from the tattoo. It was calming but held the same power her saviour had!

She gave its sudden appearance a little thought; did this mean that what she thought was a dream could actually be real? Was Rikudou real? Before this she wanted to believe it was real but felt impossible, this tattoo was perhaps a sign that what happened last night was not a dream. _This_ tattoo was perhaps his way of saying that there was still hope for a change. Erza felt herself lighten up marginally, and wondered why did she put so much effort into cleaning what was essentially a sign that things COULD change, a sign that someone out there cared for her? Perhaps when he saved her he gave her this tattoo. She did not know why, and if it was some kind of memento, it was a weird one.

Thinking about him and having the foreign energy flowing through her, she felt relaxed; Erza felt safe, protected and warm from the now familiar energy circulating in her system, and she felt her eyes slowly closing again. This may just be a slight semblance of a _normal_ birthday she had so far throughout her short life, to feel relaxed and all her worries being kept at bay...

But like all good things, it had to come to an end...

She heard a knock and a familiar voice "Erza, ya come out a moment, need ta' hav a word with yer", with that Erza silently cursed she really wanted the whole day to herself, before continuing another year of hell in this god-forsaken slums. She considered ignoring the request, but from the way the owner of the voice spoke, she knew there can only be one person calling for her so that would not be recommended. She rose from her bed and reached for the door.

"Yes, Father Anderson?"

The orphanage was run by priest...Father Anderson was his name, but she just called him Anderson in private. He was a strict, holy-man and he was fair to all the children, the red-head believed that he was the only person whom did not care for the "magic" that she inadvertently displayed that fateful day. For that, he was the only person other than her saviour who is not on her community-wide shit-list. Though there was no hate, she had no other thoughts towards the keeper; he was too serious that it was practically impossible to actually _like_ him.

As expected, waiting for her by the door was the impassive stern face of the orphanage keeper; he was a tall, well built man, wearing a long coat and a minister uniform under it. Chained around his neck was a very large cross he wore white gloves almost all the time. His eyes were slightly squinted, and he wore an antique pair of round (and very light-reflective) glasses, he had very short greyish-blonde hair. All in all, even if Father Anderson was not in her 1-mile shit-list which was saying something, his appearance was always intimidating and she could not help but feel nervous whenever he had his attention on her. Father Anderson also spoke in such a strong Irish accent; she often had problems understanding when he spoke too fast to her.

"I received a call from someone tryin' ta make an adoption', since its yer birthday today...I thought my gift.. would be yer get ta meet them first, no guarantee that they'll like wat' they see but wort' a try...aye?"

Erza was somewhat surprised, she was first to be considered for adoption which was quite rare. She believes that it was even a rarity in itself that someone would even consider adopting a child in _this_ part of the city. Most parents wishing to adopt were pretty much from an upper class society and in her opinion, they had too much money and too few people to spend it on, so they try to 'invest' on a child and boost their reputation as 'kind' people for finding a little boy or girl 'from the streets' and raise them. She has seen so many celebrities on the television to come to that conclusion, pathetic.

She did not have high hopes for this, but regardless, this may be something remotely nice the orphanage keeper would ever do for her, so might as well just accept the offer since there is nothing to lose. She gave the Priest a polite nod; he told her to be ready in two hours time and left her to herself.

Although she was less than optimistic of her chances and she lacked trust in the parents coming to possibly adopt her...she continued to deliberate it and frankly she was starting to get nervous. It was still a chance to leave, to escape from this hellhole, almost anything else is better than living here! Whilst considering the prospects of adoption for about an hour, she became a nervous wreck; what if her they thought her to be a freak as well? Will they kill her too when they found out? Will she once again succumb to her dark desires and kill them instead? These were the chaotic thoughts running through little Erza's head, and it would be reasonable for her to think that way.

The tattoo on her stomach started to give out energy throughout her being, subtly calming her, almost saying 'everything will be all right'.

Though her thoughts were still too preoccupied with her current predicament to take any notice.

* * *

2 hours later:

Well it was now or never,

She was going down to Father Anderson's office; she heard the Keeper speaking to someone she could only presume were the people looking for a child to adopt.

"John and Jane...thos' nam' sound rat'hr...nondescript don't ya think?" Father Anderson spoke in his serious and impassive voice.

She then heard a distinctively feminine voice, trying to sound the same but failing somewhat, "Well, your name is also a little to the nondescript side don't you think..._Mister Anderson_?"

_Silence..._

Erza heard the feminine voice broke into a fit of laughter whilst she heard Father Anderson gave a light huff. "That's what you get for questioning my identity and my existence, BELIEVE IT!" Erza would have to admit that was quite a funny comeback, but she could not for the life of her laugh, giggle or even give off a faint smile. It was funny, but she just could not _react_ to it.

On a side note, she had quite a bit of experience in her short life to know a verbal tick when she heard one. Ah well, might as well get it over with, the 'Mother' sounded friendly enough. With that she gave a knock, upon hearing Father Anderson's call to go in, she did so.

Obviously, Erza was starting to feel that fate decided to clump together all the surprises and shocks onto her person on one day. Starting things off, she had expected her prospective parents to either be stuck up blue-bloods, or overly nice to the point they were obviously pretending, but what she saw instead was NOTHING like any couple she envisioned.

The man who would be her father looked scarily similar to his saviour; similar facial structure, a little less tanned though. Unlike Rikudou, he had neck-length blonde hair which was slightly spiked; his eyes were a piercing ocean blue. He was wearing a casual military uniform. For most part, the blonde man had a calm and confident smile on his face.

When she looked at the woman, she nearly gaped; it almost felt like looking at her older self, the woman had deep crimson hair that was tied up to a ponytail, had fair but healthy skin; all in all she looked beautiful. Instead of her emerald green eyes, she had bright violet ones instead; she too wore a casual military uniform. Though her demeanour is the polar opposite of the blonde-haired man; while his smile was calm and restrained, she had a bright and almost childish grin on her face. Erza could not help but wonder if this was how she would turn out to be if she had a more...normal life.

Before she could verbally respond, the woman beat her to it.

"Oh my god, aren't you the most adorable little angel ever!" In mere seconds, Erza was forced by her likely older self into a bear-hug. She felt the air being forced out of her, and she was starting feel dizzy because she could not breathe...

"Jane, I believe that the child is struggling for air, and her face is turning blue could you kindly let her go so she can breathe again?" said the blonde man in an exasperated tone. The red-head woman let go of Erza and went to glare at the blonde man and argued back "well I don't see you getting excited, we are getting ourselves a DAUGHTER here and you just SIT there and say I am too violent for reacting to kids?! When did you become a cold-hearted bastard John?"

"I did not say you were violent Jane, I did not even imply anything like that. I merely asked that you give her some air. Besides, you were practically running to grab the child before I could do anything..."

"SHUT UP!"

Erza just blinked, here they were two people with such different characters arguing and bickering like an _far older_ married couple. She had seen these in shows, couples yelling their lungs out but in the end they still love each other very much. She felt a slight pang in her heart, love...she heard that word off and on but never got the chance to feel it before, let alone understand what it truly means.

Father Anderson forced a loud cough to gain the young couple's attention, when they managed to calm them down, he diverted back his attention to Erza, "child, 'ere is Mr. and Mrs. Shepard, they are the couple lookin' fer a kid...and it looks like Mrs. Shepard has taken an interest in yer, I'll leave the girl with yer both, just to let ya get to know her more." Anderson then went to the door and left his office, leaving Erza and her prospective parents in private.

The blonde man decided to start things off, he gave Erza a polite smile and started "All right, I believe we should introduce ourselves in person rather than having...Mr. Anderson do the talking. I am John Shepard, and this here is my _charming_ wife Jane Shepard. It is great to meet y-"

"HOLD ON A MOMENT! I can introduce myself thank you very much! *Jane narrowed her eyes* and what did you mean by _charming_ anyway. Just because we are out in public does not mean I won't kick your ass for saying such a smart-ass response..." the now name John Shepard just pointed back to Erza. The woman, Jane just looked back at Erza and blushed in embarrassment.

"Uhhhh... looks like I'm not making a very good impression to you, am I?" Erza blinked, and just shrugged. The woman breathes a sigh of relief, believing that she can still make a good impression. So she started anew, by giving the younger red-head a bright and somewhat cheesy grin "how ya doing? As what 'Mr. has-a-stick-up-his-ass' said...", John interrupted her by saying "language", Jane just gave him a withering glare for a moment before she continued "... I am Jane Shepard, and as you can see I married Mr. Uptight over there, sometimes I wonder why I even bothered."

"Someone needs to keep you in line Jane, otherwise who knows what would happen to you. You have never been tactful when you speak to others AND you often adopt a fight-first-speak-later approach. Sometimes I wonder if we should switch roles..." John retorted, with a slightly more amused voice. Jane just gave him a pout by which the blonde man merely chuckled.

He then asked the little red-head girl "so, why don't you introduce yourself so we can get to know you better?" the woman looked back to the girl and gave her an encouraging smile. Erza was _very_ hesitant to respond to them, she did not trust anyone and she did not want to be hurt when she started to place trust in someone only for them to crush it into dust and leave her alone again, but they seemed like nice people, one of them looks like her saviour, the other almost exactly like her. Yes she did realise how stupid that sounded in her head, coming to such a conclusion by appearance alone but leaving the orphanage and going with a _family_ was way better than staying another year here.

She gave a soft sigh, might as well take a leap of faith and see where this goes.

"My name is Erza, no surname because I did not know my parents, and I am now ten years old. Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Shepard" she kept her head down and her voice was subdued and bashful, she had no idea what else to say and for the most part she was still worried that they did not like her.

The Shepards apparently detected her distress so John decided to take over the conversation again, "that is a good start, Erza is a beautiful name. You said you are ten years old, so when is your birthday?"

Erza kept her head down replied in the same way she did before "...today is my birthday sir, 10th October..." she was met with a short silence, but long enough to be noticeable. What did she say wrong, that was the thought invading her head, did 10th October bring unwanted memories for them? She wanted to know so she looked up slightly to see what reactions her prospective parents had, she was once again not expecting to be embraced by the red-head woman and being yelled at as well.

"TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO? AND WHY THE HECK DID MR. ANDERSON SAY NOTHING? OH MY GOD HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERZA!" Erza was shocked out of her words again, they were the ONLY people who actually wished her happy birthday period, Anderson over the years did not do so except for today, but even then he did not outright say "Happy birthday". The older red-head let go of her again, but Erza remained speechless her mouth was agape.

Once again, the blonde man seems to detect her shock and visibly frowned, "no one has ever wished you happy birthday before, did they?" She snapped out of her stupor and heard him, and was surprised that he could come to such a conclusion just by assessing her reaction. But nevertheless he was right, so she just mumble a "yes".

The man replied, "I have seen other orphans in here; all of them seem sociable enough with each other and sufficiently lively. But you...you are different child, you look sad and remained so throughout our time with you, and it does not look like you have any friends. Why is that the case?"

Erza froze; he asked the question she really hoped she did not need to answer. She could not dismiss that question because his observations were spot on and in all likelihood he would not believe her if she came up with an excuse. She looked back at the woman; she also had a curious look on her face and without a doubt expecting an answer too. Well, it had to happen eventually so might as well lay it bare right now rather than later.

"I-it's because..." she stopped talking and instead willed a pencil on Anderson's table to float and move on its own. The red energy visibly coursing through her arms again. "...they think I am a freak. I can do things other cannot...I can make things move without touching them. The adults, they say hurtful things to me, some hurt me, and the other kids...they just stay away from me. They say I am an alien, that I should not be here, an abomination." Well now that the secret is out, it was time to face the music. Erza was expecting the both of them to yell at her, give out the same insults, or just outright leave her alone; perhaps she placed too much faith in her situation...

"Foolish", she was right, "those people, they are foolish, all of them", and NOW she was wrong. Her head snapped back up, looking at the man and just to make sure her ears did not deceive her.

The man's face was contorted in silent anger, and his face was as cold as ice. He continued, "I did not expect anyone to treat a little child with such coldness and intolerance, for the sole reason of being different. Ripping away her innocence, her happiness and most importantly, her childhood..."

Erza directed her attention to the woman, her face was impassive and she gave her an order;

"show me your hands Erza, _both_ of them" the little girl did not want to say no to that voice and did just so. The woman had a clear view of all the faded scars on her arms, which were still very much noticeable, especially a scar that looked suspiciously like the word "demon" that was carved on her skin. The woman gritted her teeth, struggling to rein in her anger.

The woman spoke in silent fury, "Okay, Erza tell me who hurts you and I swear _I will end them_." Erza did not know how to react to this, she was just too new to this experience, the feeling of being supported or having someone standing up for her. She remained silent, she wanted to say something but she could not do so. So she just shook her head, indicating there was no need to resort to such extremities.

The man stood up from his chair and approached Erza, he knelt down to her level, placed his hand on her shoulder and made eye contact with her, his face determined and his voice firm "you are special Erza, you are not a freak and we will never see you as one. From what I can observe, you are a sweet and polite little girl, a child whom has seen too much, and a child whom should NEVER have the eyes you have. Most importantly, you are a child ANY parent would ever want, do not at ANY point see yourself as anything less, you understand me?"

She felt a sudden surge of déjà vu, he sounded so much like her saviour that it was frightening. She was so close to falling into darkness and insanity a while ago, but it was her memory of her saviour which kept her from doing so. She hoped so hard that she could find the light at the end of the abyss of her pain, and was this really her chance to do so?

For the second time in so many years, she felt tears streaming out from her eyes, but they were not as much as last night and she certainly did not break down and cry. She managed to rein in the rest of her tears and tried to give the man the most appreciative smile she could muster, but fell morbidly short, appearing merely as a slight upward twitch of her lip. The man apparently understood her gesture in return gave her a small grin and hugged her softly, a while later the woman held down her rage and gave her a firm but more gentle embrace as well. For a moment there, she really hoped the moment could last forever, to feel accepted and protected the same feeling as when her saviour embraced her last night when she really lost control of her emotions.

Is this how love could feel like?

This moment lasted for minutes, and when the two adults parted with her, the blonde man declared "from this moment on, my wife and I have decided that you will be our daughter. We will take care of you, and protect you with all our strength."

The woman then said, "Our only request to you is that you will give _us_ a chance, to be part of your life, and to accept us. I know it is hard for you to call us mother and father immediately, but if you give us a chance to get to know you better and for you to know us, perhaps one day we may deserve your acknowledgement."

Erza was...happy for the first time. She was happy that she did not have to go through this hell again, and that she could stand a chance to acquire something she knew so little of...love. She felt herself giving them a smile for the first time in her life, and her eyes welled up in tears again, but it was not tears of sorrow or pain. It was instead tears of joy, these two people alongside her saviour...Rikudou made her feel safe, gave her the will and desire to trust again. She wanted to give this man and woman a chance.

She gave them a nod, her weak smile still intact.

The blonde man, John Shepard ruffled her hair in a familiar manner and gave a light hearted chuckle. Turns out he was not as uptight as she initially thought.

Moments later, she was once again subjected to the tightest bear-hug from the woman, Jane Shepard, and once again she could feel the air leaving her.

"YAY! Erza is now part of the family, THIS IS SO AWESOME! I always wanted a little sister, think of all the great time we will have!"

"Jane, I think you mean mother, we ARE adopting Erza as a daughter, and please let go of OUR little girl before she suffocates..." Jane dropped Erza again, gave John a death glare and responded, "Are you implying that I am _old_ John? Don't go there because you won't like what you see." With that the bickering started again, and for once in her short life, she was _happy._

The tattoo on her navel seems to hum in energy, responding to her rare display of positive emotion.

John and Jane went through the formalities of adoption with Anderson, and thus it was made official; her name was now Erza Shepard, daughter to John and Jane Shepard.

* * *

**AN: ****Not much action in this chapter, but then again this short story does not capitalise on fight scenes, more of setting up the plot and character development for my coming challenge. Though rest assured that this story is not over yet, still too much in my head so might as well use it all up.**

**Now you know who Erza is? I hope I expressed her inner conflicts well and how close she was to turning into a mindless murderer like some of the more infamous anime and games. **

**By the way, anyone notice what series influence did I get from Erza's revised biotic potential (hint her eyes).**

**What did we learn from this? Who is John and Jane Shepard, you might know the names as the default ME Shepard first names. But in this story, who are they really? Once again kind of obvious.**

**I will update when I can, faster if I get a sudden surge of inspiration or am very clear of the direction of the last few chapters. Please leave some comments or a review, I appreciate anything constructive! Until the next update**

**Druid**


	4. N7

**AN: ****Once again, thank you everyone for their supportive reviews and for those whom have added this story to their fav and follow list. I asked in the previous chapter who John and Jane Shepard are, I thank those whom gave a try. I have added a few hints into this chapter. Hope that this chapter turned out well. This is one of my first attempts at a fight scene. Let me just get on with it then;**

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.**

"conversations"

_"memories/written words"_

* * *

Outside the orphanage, Erza gave one last look at the old building; hoping that she would never have to see this place again and to never be back in these slums. Crushing her last negative thoughts, she turned around and followed her now legal parents to the direction of their shuttle, her adoptive mother Jane holding her hand.

At least that was what she thought they were going to do until Jane decided to stop in her tracks half way and gave Erza a glance, her face lacking any visible emotion, but her eyes an undertone of rekindled rage and...malice. Apparently her adoptive father, whom is walking in front of them stopped and looked back to see why they stopped. His attention was diverted to Jane and his face holding a tinge of worry...perhaps knowing what her adoptive mother is thinking.

A few seconds later, Jane spoke, "remember what I asked a while ago Erza? About you telling me who gave your life a living hell?" Erza nodded, wondering why her adoptive mother decides to raise this question again.

"I told you I would end them and I was serious...so dear, could you please show me where those _very mean_ people usually hang around. As a responsible mother who should stand up for her little girl, I will have to meet them myself and _inform _them of why bullying is very, very _bad_". Jane ended the statement with a deceptively soft smile, but it was likely anything but...

That smile was downright scary, suffice it to say that no one in the No. 11's slums was capable of drawing even a quarter of the terrifying aura that came out from her adoptive mother, and it was just from that smile no less. Erza really wanted to leave that problem at that but from Jane's look, it was very obvious that it was a '_nothing _is going to change my mind' situation so what else could she do?

Erza was very aware of where the group of racist bastards normally gather, now why? It was because they used to drag her there once in a while so they can just escalate any of their twisted and sick torture on her, or just to avoid any alliance patrols or police . Keep in mind that since it was the slums area, there would be a lot of military and police surveillance around. Hence as much as she wished it was not the case, Erza was very well acquainted with their hideout.

* * *

30 Minutes Later

Jane's first words when they arrived at the gang's hideout, "Hmm, I was expecting some kind of abandoned building and I was right...abandoned warehouse, as generic as it can be for a pseudo-criminal gang or organisation with some ridiculous ideals. Sometimes I wish it was somewhere a little flashier like an elaborate military base in a very remote part of the galaxy housing hundreds of pro-human fanatics and thousands of mindless brainwashed super soldiers."

"Be careful what you wish for Jane, it could just happen...knowing _our_ luck" Said John

It would appear that Jane has managed to persuade her husband to deal with Erza's tormenters in a more 'hands-on' manner. Initially, John recommended some form of formal crackdown on the thugs with his and her status in the military but it was shot down almost immediately. Jane wanted to personally see to their 'punishment' rather than having a group of Alliance soldiers and police rounding them up to prison.

Speaking of the abused child, she was downright nervous with her adoptive mother's decision. Essentially two people against a gang of perhaps hundreds will not turn out well. Due to her always being on the receiving end of the gang's wrath she did not have any confidence that anyone other than Rikudou could get rid of them. It had been less than three hours and _she _ was _worrying_ about her own parents rather than the other way around.

Erza tried to get Jane's attention and gave her a pleading look, hoping she would change her mind. Alas, calling her adoptive mother stubborn would be an understatement.

"Don't worry sweetie, me and daddy are going to handle those mean people, it's not going to take long." She the opened the back of the shuttle and pulled out a...sword?

Erza did not know what to think about the weapon, it was sheathed to she had no idea how the blade looked like. The hilt itself had a strange silver coloured L-shaped guard, a slick black grip with crimson lining and a silver pommel. She cought passing glimpses of swords in her dream but that was the most she actually knew about them. Though she was aware practically no one uses a sword, they were relics of the distant past.

John approached his wife and whispered "You are really serious aren't you Jane, the last time I saw you use a _monomolecular blade_ was during the Contact Wars."

His wife looked back at him with a blank look and gave her reply "Believe it that I am serious. By the way, you have the 'permissions' covered?"

John gave an audible sigh "yes, I will see to the _paperwork_, just don't kill _too many _of them." Jane said nothing and started her walk to the warehouse entrance. He saw Erza was getting increasingly distressed, possibly the prospect of Jane and himself against a large group of thugs. So he decided to alleviate her fears;

"Don't worry Erza, both of us can handle a group of thugs no problem. Now just be a good girl, stay here and we will be out soon. _God _will bring pain on those lowlives." John said the last sentence to himself, but Erza's ever strong hearing caught it.

Erza remained doubtful as of yet and the last thing he said was very strange, but she did not want to show her doubts lest she inadvertently offended them. So she tried to calm herself down and gave a light nod to her adoptive father. John gave her a small smile, turned to the direction of the thugs' hideout and took out a...dagger from his side holster?

His weapon of choice confused her as well; she would have expected him to take out a firearm but instead resorted to more up-close weaponry, the dagger was of an unusual shape, it had a black leather-like grip, a metal ring at the base of the handle, its blade was tri-pronged and was _sharp_ from her observation. As John held on to it in a reverse grip, the blade glowed a faint yellow.

John looked back at Erza, and caught her questioning gaze, he gave his adoptive daughter a light smirk, almost as if saying "don't worry yourself so much". He turned back to the direction of the warehouse entrance and followed after his wife.

Erza stood there for a moment, she considered just standing by the shuttle since she had less than pleasant experiences in the hideout. But her worry overrode her discomfort and so she decided to follow them and find a hiding spot and a clear view of what was about to happen.

* * *

Inside

Jane and John looked around, it was a typical warehouse turned hideout in their opinion; illegal weapons, drugs, beds, tables for gambling and hundreds thugs occupying them. Said thugs were walking around acting menacing and aggressive, especially so when they detected the both of them. It looks like they too had a pre-conceived mind that people from the Alliance were 'alien sympathisers' as they so put it, and given that they were the only one in the hideout and there was hundreds of them, it was reasonable to deduce that they thought them easy to intimidate.

The Shepards wondered, by the end of their little visit, who would be the one to be intimidated, if any of them were still breathing?

Erza followed her parents into the warehouse but hid herself by some crates and empty containers in the darkness but still offered a clear view of her parents. She prayed to any god, perhaps to Rikudou himself to make sure they would make it out of this encounter alive.

John and Jane walked a little further in until they reached a makeshift meeting room. Sitting on one of the seats was a rather short, overweight man. His face was greasy and sweaty, his eyes squinted, and he wore marginally better clothes compared to the other thugs, signifying he was a boss of some kind. He caught eye of the two intruders, but they lingered a little longer on Jane. Jane knew exactly what the man was thinking and gave off a fierce scowl.

By the time they stopped walking, the thugs in their general direction diverted their full attention to the couple and were crowding around them, some were on the upper floors of the warehouse and had M-8 Assault Rifles, they also had full view of the couple.

Erza was getting VERY worried and angry now, she caught eye of the fat bastard many times. When his thugs dragged her here, he was always there to witness her physical torture, always with that hideous evil smirk. During the odd times, when her insane persona took slight hold of her emotions, she felt she would really enjoy to rip off the bastard's eyes from his sockets and feed them to him , perhaps grab a knife and cut off his lips so his disgusting...Erza realised the direction her mind was taking and tried to rein in her rage before it took her over. She placed her full attention towards her parents.

Both Shepards stood in the centre of the makeshift room, giving off hard glares at the obese man, John's eyes were cold, whilst Jane's were filled with fury. This lasted for a good few seconds before the obese man started.

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected visit, two people from the Alliance no less. It is a wonder how the two of you managed to get here in the first place, I wonder who led you here. However, I should just ask, to what do I owe this pleasure?".

"You should know why we are here, 'Sons of Adam', a pro-human gang with numerous records of murders of Asari, Quarian and Salarian visitors and immigrants. You have been causing quite a bit of trouble for the Alliance, and it is about time we bring a stop to this." John responded in a hostile monotone.

The fat man raised his eyebrows, and spoke loudly to the rest of the now armed thugs "Oh really? Well I suppose this is the end of our little group of freedom fighters then?!" A short pause, and loud booming laughter could be heard across the warehouse. The man then turned his attention back to the Shepards "There is certainly more to it that this, the 'Sons of Adam', are just a humble brotherhood, certainly the death of a few abominations would not leave too much of an impact to render the attention of _Two Alliance_ members. So might I hazard a guess that you being here is somehow related to...a young red-headed girl by any chance, perhaps someone who looks almost exactly like you perhaps." His gaze lingered on Jane again. "You know, if she wasn't a freak of nature, she would have made an _outstanding_ beauty, I may have even 'de-flowered' her when she was old enough, but since she is a freak, I just feel so...revolted just thinking about it. Perhaps _you _ might just fill that role now..."

Erza shivered in disgust, anger and fear at what the _monster_ said, he was not just a danger to her, but to anyone else who caught his eye in the future. She really hoped he would die a very painful death. Alas she was not strong enough to do it herself, and to her it still looked morbid for her adoptive parents, the number of armed thugs were just too many...

Jane seemed to have snapped, and in a smooth motion unsheathed her her sword, Erza had a clear view of the blade, it was single edged, and razor sharp. The blade shone with a silver light that was present in the hideout. John followed her example and held on tightly to his tri-pronged dagger.

Jane shouted in unbridled rage, "YOU SLIME OF A MAN, ASSHOLES LIKE YOU DESERVE NOTHING ELSE BUT DEATH! I'LL BE DOING EVERYONE ELSE A FAVOUR BY CASTRATING YOU AND SLICING OFF YOUR HEAD!" The thug all had their firearms focused on Jane, she did not give them any mind, her wrath focused entirely on the fat man. John held his dagger in a ready position. The lower part of his legs had blue energy coursing through them, whilst Jane's arms glowed discreetly. These details were surprisingly unseen by the thugs but Erza could see them.

The fat man gave a hysterical laugh before saying, "I would like to see the both of you try, I have hundreds of men in here, and all of them armed, so BIG TALK! Put down those useless, primitive _toys_ of yours, should have considered bringing guns instead don't you think?" Seeing the two of them unmoving, he gave his thugs the order, "Kill the man, keep this gorgeous woman alive I want to spend some time with her. After that, find the little freak, and make sure she dies _slowly and p..._". He did not get a chance to finish that statement when he saw a glowing blue chain of energy surged toward him and in less than a second pierced through his nether regions, moments later smoke came off it and a distinct burning sound and smell came off.

The fat man wailed in agony, the chains were solid, like real metal and it was searing hot to boot. The chains came directly off from Jane's now open palm, appearing out of thin air. In a few seconds, the chain-like energy dispersed in a burning hot mist and the fat man fell to the ground yelling his lungs out. The thugs around them were confused for a short moment but soon snapped out of it and poised their weapons at Jane.

They were about to pull their triggers when close to 30 of the same blue energy chains came out of Jane's back, each surging towards an armed thug and in seconds hit their mark and impaled them through the gut. The remaining thugs finally opened fire, hoping to kill the crazed red-head but were met with a nasty surprise that was awe-inspiring at the same time. Jane placed her whole self towards the firing thugs and moved her blade in blinding speed to intercept the approaching bullets, _deflecting _ each and every round that came towards her without fail.

Erza would have dropped her jaws, but after years of hardship she could rein in a large portion of her emotions, instead she had widened eyes. Was that even possible? She looked closer and saw that her mother's arms had energy coursing through them much like her father before the fight. She watched as the chains dispersed upon impalement and new one came out from her mother's back and went on to hit new target. All along she was able to deflect each and every bullets that came her way. The death toll was rising rapidly for the thugs.

All the time, they ignored John since Jane is putting up a very BIG show. Erza diverted her attention to her father, he had an almost bored look on his face but his eyes were showed hawk-like awareness. He apparently caught eye on a few thugs behind Jane, some on their floor and others on second, they had their guns raised towards her back, that was when he took action.

John's whole body was charged with the same energy and his body suddenly flashed with a bright light. It died down seconds later and he literally disappeared, Erza look everywhere else and then towards the thugs whom caught his father's attention, only to see them all dead with their throats slit. She saw her father on the upper floors of the warehouse, and he 'blinked' towards another group of thugs. In less than a second, they too fell to the ground dead.

Erza was awed, and almost confused, what type of people were her parents to fell hordes of ARMED men in mere seconds? Was this what her father meant when he said it would be easy...and just when did she stop calling them by their first name or having 'adoptive' placed in when thinking about them?

Now the thugs numbered to around forty, and all of them were in a state to panic. So what do armed thugs do in a state of panic? They bring out bigger guns, and one such thug brought out a 21st century LAW rocked propelled grenade. They were old, but still packed a hell of a punch. Seeing that Jane was the best target since she as pretty much stationary, the thug poised the LAW in her direction and fired away, hoping that it could finally kill the crimson haired Instant-death machine.

John saw this and flashed to the direction the rocket was heading towards, Erza saw this and outright panicked! What the heck was he doing? That is a goddamn RPG!

Her panic subsided and was replaced with more confusion when her father raised his dagger in front of him, facing the oncoming rocket, the blade glowed a bright blue and a black-hole like singularity erupted at the front of the blade, the rocket was engulfed into it and the singularity dispersed...he just literally made an RPG _disappear_. The thug whom fired it was speechless, and had a look of sheer hopelessness.

The singularity appeared again in another part of the warehouse close to a crowd of surviving armed men, the RPG charged out from it, and exploded. This killed off 7 of them. That was it, the thugs were severely demoralised. What was essentially over 200 men in the hideout were now around 15. Some of them decided to place their guns into their mouths and fired, that left about 9 men. The remainder were about to lower their guns and surrender but, the extremely pissed off older red-head beat them to it by literally sprinting at inhuman speeds to their position and sliced off their head with her sword. Now, all the thugs were dead, leaving the fat bastard the only one alive but only barely.

He saw everything, that Red Habanero of a woman killed so many of his men and supporters with such ease and in the most gruesome way possible, he was very sure he was watching a demon. The blonde man could literally bend space to his will and in seconds, so many of his men were killed off as well. He wanted to live!

There was movement in the air and he looked up, he saw the man and the woman, but in between them was...her, the little freak he alongside his scarred partner whom mysteriously disappeared always tormented and tortured. But there was no time for petty remarks, he needed to beg for his life. So begged he did.

"Please...please let me go, I will do anything! I will get a clean slate, live a new life! I will even apologise to the girl, you want money? I have a lot, I could..." he was cut off from his pathetic begging with a clean slice of his head by the older red-head. John already had Erza's eyes covered, and led her out of the hideout. He made a call to Alliance police to clear up the mess. Jane flicked her blade clean of blood, sheathed it and followed soon after out of the warehouse, her face impassive, almost stone-like and her anger fully dissipated. "Good riddance, scum like you are a plague to _human_ity..." was the last thing she mumbled.

* * *

Minutes Later

No long after, a few shuttles arrived bearing Alliance Insignia, and soon squads of Police started to flood in the hideout. Suffice to say it was a mess in there, even the fire outbreak dispatch was needed due to the RPG's explosion. Erza looked at the various people going through their tasks and cleaning up the mess, she would have expected to be shell-shocked , disgusted or frightened by the sheer display of violence from her parents but that was given that she was a normal girl, which she is not. Replacing those sentiments, were the feelings of awe, and joy. Awe from the display of John and Jane dispatching those thugs with nothing but a sword and a dagger, and joy knowing that her parents were very much alive and unscathed from the encounter. She did not mind that death was occurring in front of her back then, she outgrew that stigma a long time ago.

She was sitting by her parents' shuttle, Jane was next to her with the older red-head's arms wrapped around her. John was talking to what she assumed was commander for the Police dispatch whom arrived at the scene. Soon, John walked back to them, he was muttering something under his breath that sounded like "damn paperwork". Soon both of her parents were by her side, concern in their features. John decided to voice out said concern,

"So Erza, are you alright?", she was a little confused with what he meant by that, all she could do was blink. But her very developed little head soon caught up what he meant, her father was asking her how she felt watching the death of so many, and in her mother's case, in a reasonably violent and graphic manner.

Erza put on a small reassuring smile and gave her step-parents a small nod, John and Jane scrutinised her for a short moment, making Erza a little nervous. Moments later, their concern was now replaced with regret and slight guilt? This time Jane spoke,

"I'm sorry sweetie...I just got too carried away. You shouldn't be one to see that, their deaths and the way they died...it's my fault, I allowed my _anger_ to get the best of me. What kind of mother am I?" Her step-mother's eyes were slowly tearing up, the more she spoke. Erza did not want to see one of the only people who now cared for her to cry, so she nudged her repeatedly trying to reassure the older red-head that she was fine and what had happened did not affect her in any way. Soon enough, her step-mother calmed down, and she looked somewhat relieved and impressed with Erza's show of mental fortitude. Her step-father decide to voice this out.

"You are a strong girl, to look at so much death like it was nothing and still remain so resilient and unaffected...though such resilience is something that no child your age should ever have. Those monsters deserved what was coming to them. They will _never_ hurt you anymore Erza, you can now move on to a new life, a life as our daughter." John gave Erza a firm hug again, whilst Jane gave her a light kiss on her forehead.

The young red-head was still very unused to all this show of affection, she was also shocked to the core to know that her adoptive parents were willing to go so far just for her, they were willing to KILL just to protect her, even if she would never see those monsters again. She did not know why they would do such a thing for someone whom they met for just a good few hours, but from the moment she met them, there was an odd feeling that what they did were very much sincere and they genuinely cared for her. Perhaps it was times like these that such discrepancies have no explanation...they just happen. They loved her immensely and right now Erza was willing to open up her heart, for these two people whom left such a large impact on her, as much as Rikudou.

"Mother...Father...thank you." Erza said in a soft, small voice, but it was said very clearly. Both Shepards heard her; John gave soft smile whilst Jane's face lit up.

"Come on sweetie, time we get out of this place, and we ain't ever coming back, believe it!" the shuttle car opened and Jane helped Erza into the back seat. Before anything else happened however, Erza realised what she wanted to ask and was about to do so, but Jane beat her to the punch,

"Wondering how we did those awesome stuff, well that is called..._biotics_, the power of being AWESOME!" Jane declared proudly, John just face-palmed at her wife's antics, but decided to break the truth to Erza and _her_ potential.

"Biotics, was what you performed when you met us, but you are special. No one your age should ever be able to do what you did and yours was red instead of blue." John said almost proudly, but his face darkened slightly and he continued, "but _do not _let anyone else know you can do it Erza, not until you are at least fifteen, you can try it at home and we will train you but it is very important no one knows about it yet. Promise me that Erza."

Erza nodded furiously, after all it was because she demonstrated this power...biotics in public that she had to live so many years of hell. She was more than willing to keep this under wraps. Who knows what would happen if other people knew about this, Erza mentally shuddered thinking about that prospect. With that said and done, John took the driver seat and Jane sat next to him in the front.

* * *

Later

Whilst in the car, Erza felt exhausted; but instead of physical exhaustion which was so common to her, it was instead emotional. The surge of such foreign feelings and the 'display' she was subjected to made her feel so drained, so the moment she was in the car, she wanted the familiar aura of her saviour enveloping her, calming her, so she placed her palm under her shirt on her stomach where her tattoo was. The surge of ever-present energy returned to her, she could almost hear it hum. Despite having parents now, the person whom she really missed was still her saviour, his face and his eyes were forever ingrained into her mind. One day, she promised herself to see him again, and thank him for that key moment in her life. For saving her from death, turning her luck around, and finally giving her faith again.

There was a comfortable silence until...

"Hey Erza are you hungry?" asked her mother.

Erza wanted to say no, but her stomach begged to differ and hence a rumbling sound was heard. Jane giggled while she blushed.

"I'd take that as a yes then! Anything you would like to eat?" Erza just shook her head.

Frankly speaking, she had no idea what she wanted to eat. All those years in the orphanage did not really help in developing her personal tastes; it had always been plain bread, or some kind of saturated nutrition gruel.

A long story short, she had no preferences because she has never ever tried anything else.

"OOH how about RAMEN!" declared her mother, but her father gave an exasperated noise.

"Not again, we had that this morning, and last night for dinner. I think it is much more responsible for us as parents to take her somewhere where there is a healthy variety of -"

"Johnny, shut up or I'll kill you" her stepmother said in a VERY sweet voice. She could see her deceptively gentle smile again, and she was terrified. Her stepfather still kept a calm look, but she could see faint drops of sweat on the side of his head.

"Perhaps...it would not be such a bad idea; I suppose she has not tried ramen before..." Jane looked back at Erza, she gave a furious nod.

"THEN IT'S SETTLED!" cheered her stepmother, with that they head to one of the ramen bars they both frequented on Earth. Erza was curious what ramen was, though she did not realise the energy radiating off the tattoo on her stomach hummed...gleefully?

* * *

Few hours later

Being the first thing she ate that was NOT tasteless, Erza thought that Ramen might as well be the food of the GODS. That being said, it was likely that even if she had anything else, she would still enjoy this steaming hot bowl of noodles the most. She could not believe that she had taken NINE bowls of this.

But this was nothing compared to her mother, Jane had a miraculous fifteen bowls, if Erza was not busy feeling so satisfied with her first wonderful meal, she would have wondered how herself and her mother could fit so much food in their small frames.

Her father only had two bowls, but for most parts he was unaffected by the quantities his wife and daughter ate, perhaps he was used to all these and had come to expect it.

"AH that hit the spot! Still better than Citadel's." Jane gave a happy sigh and rested her head on the counter.

"Moving on, so Erza how was your first real meal?" John asked his daughter, his response was a loud burp from the younger red-head. Erza immediately blushed a deep crimson and tried to hide her face. The shop owner gave a hearty laugh.

"That is a gorgeous little angel you have there Shepard, looks a lot like your wife, though her eyes are such a beautiful green, I should know, I've been to Ireland." Erza became increasingly embarrassed from the man's compliment and her blush turned full bodied.

"That she is, we adopted little Erza from an orphanage. She is sweet little girl, but she experienced a little too much hardship, and too little happiness." John commented a little solemnly.

"Hm adopted you say, there is so much resemblance. The universe works in such interesting ways, some might call it god's will. Never been one to believe those stuff though." Replied the owner.

"Oh Yeah! It's your birthday Erza and we need to find you a present! What do you want, come on spill!" Jane snapped up from her short nap and started shaking the younger red-head. Erza herself never really thought about birthday presents before, if she could have one whole year without problems or sadness, it was more than enough.

"October 10th is your birthday? Well this humble shop owner wishes you a happy birthday. Tell you what, the nine bowls of ramen you had, it's on the house. Think of it as my gift to you." Erza's responded to that by rubbing her head and giving a sheepish look. If she knew he was going to give her food for free, she would have taken less. After all, credits are very hard to acquire and she did not like taking food off people. But her mother thought differently,

"Awesome, thanks old man!" John shook his head from his wife's lack of respect for others, he then asked the owner for the bill.

"Let's see, that will be 102 Credits." declared the store owner with a happy glint in his eye and a shit-eating grin, John gave an audible sigh and paid the owner. Suffice to say any ramen store that had them as a customer will always declare them, or Jane to be their best customer.

After paying for it, Erza and her parents left for their house, her new home.

* * *

Shepard Residence,

Erza was surprised to say the least, her parents' house was a far cry from what she was used to. It was an apartment in the heart of the city, a very big house (to her) that could fit four people in it. Her room was clean, and well furnished and it came with a bathroom. Her parents saw her gaping at every little detail of their house, and trying to keep herself from touching any of them in case they broke. They could not help but laugh, and feel a little saddened by it, these little luxuries and comforts were so highly valued by the young girl, whilst other kids with better lives only take these little things for granted.

Erza was given some privacy to clean herself up and put on more comfortable clothing, which was limited to shorts and t-shirts and were often too baggy for her. Jane decided one day they will need to get her something more comfortable to wear that did not make Erza look like a starving child.

After freshening herself, her parents took her for a tour around the apartment. It was reasonably well furnished with a large living room, and VERY well equipped with a VR Television. There was also a kitchen but it looked far too clean for it to have ever been used, all the appliances looked practically brand new...

Finally, there was a training room which contained a large assortment of weapons in it. In the training room there was a large picture by the side of the walls and some writing below it. Erza was curious once again, and gave a questioning look to her parents.

"By all means, go ahead. This is now your home after all." responded her father so Erza approached the picture.

It was an electronic photo, in the setting was in some kind of grassy battlefield with buildings in the distance. In the sky was a large strangely-shaped superstructure that had a bright blue light at the centre. Standing at the centre of the photo were six individuals all of them bearing stoic expressions.

Erza instantly recognised her mother and father, they were at the centre of the picture, though much like the other individuals she did not know of, they had a serious expression on them. They had their weapons she saw them use in their hands, her mother with her sword and her father with the dagger. They wore armour pieces with an 'N7' on them. She had a look at the other four individuals, all of them bore the same symbol at different parts of their attire;

To the far left was a man who had a rebreather that resembled a late 21st century gas mask covering his entire face and his head , only leaving his brown eyes visible. He wore clothes similar to her parents when she met them for the first time but had slight more armour to it. He too had an 'N7' symbol as an armband. Unlike her parents, he did not hold any weapons but there was a pistol holstered to his side, and he had his right arm resting on its holster.

Next to him was a dark-skinned man wearing light, fabric-heavy armour, he had a blonde goatee and wore a plated bandanna with the symbol. He was wearing dark coloured military-grade protective goggles that covered his eyes. He was holding what could possibly be a shotgun with his right hand, resting it on his shoulder relaxingly.

To the far right was a heavily armoured and bulky individual, Erza had to guess was a man as well. His appearance was fully covered by his armour and helmet so there was nothing else she could discern from it. His N7 symbol was on the side of his chest-piece. He too was not having his weapons on him, preferring to keep it on his back.

The last person, to the left of the armoured individual was another woman, though she looked significantly different from her mother, she too had brown eyes like the man in the gas mask, but instead of red hair, the woman instead had dark green hair that reached her upper back and one long and short strand of hair with orange tips framing both sides of her face. She wore a cloak, and beneath it was light tight-fit black armour. She had a VERY large scoped rifle that was placed on the floor and leaning on her person. Her N7 symbol was on her forearms.

All in all, the people in the photo were very diverse in appearance, all of them looked different to the point that it would have been so unlikely for them to be in the same place, but here they were, and obviously closely associated to this 'N7' group Erza suppose since her parents were in the military, they must have either been teammates or friends.

Then she looked at the written message below the photo,

_"People's lives do not end when they die, it ends when they lose their faith." _below it was another,

_"Be it for peace, order or to protect, faith and purpose drives us and they might just make the impossible achievable."__  
_

"See the gas mask guy? He came up with the first half of the message, it didn't help that he had a large stick up his ass but he is okay. The second half of the message...I have no idea where that came from." Her mother stated. Erza had to face-fault at that, that was very anti-climatic.

She thought back of the message, her parents had a purpose, they were part of the military. They fought and they protect, every single person in the photo fought for whatever purpose they had. Erza was now in a dilemma, what was _her _purpose? What did SHE want to do for herself? Did she even have confidence that she could make a difference?

Then she thought of Rikudou, her saviour and what he said;

_"Grow up strong, grow up brave, and when you are strong, protect others in need, do what is right."_

That was what he said to her, before meeting her parents, she did not know how she could be stronger. But now she knew what she wanted. John and Jane Shepard were her parents, someone precious to her, Rikudou saved her from falling to darkness, he had _faith_ in her when no one else had, _he _was precious to her and Erza wanted nothing more than to meet him again. She wanted to be stronger to protect those precious to her, and to help those who could not. She made a decision that would give her that strength.

"Mother, father...I know what I want...for my birthday." She declared softly, but it did not lack in firmness. John and Jane were surprised by her sudden statement, but nevertheless motioned her to go ahead.

"I want to join...the Alliance military. I want to get stronger, so I can protect others in need, and to make a difference in this world, to change it for the better." She looked up at her parents, her emerald green eyes shone in determination.

Both her parents remained speechless for a short while, her mother looked deep in thought, whilst her father gave her a response, "is that really what you want Erza? Being a soldier _will_ be hard." Erza in return gave a firm nod to her father, and received a nod back.

She continued, "I also want to train in my powers, I want to master biotics and control them, so I won't hurt others with it." Both of her parents nod back at her, and she could see their faces, they once again looked impressed with her determination.

Her father voiced out again, "That can be done, when do you want to join, I recommend starting next year during..." Erza nudged her father lightly so she could respond to him, "I would like to start now father, please."

He blinked, Erza saw him considering her request and after a short moment, he said "are you really sure Erza?" She gave him a nod again, her father gave her a calm smile and replied "you must be the toughest and most stubborn little girl I have ever met, other than your mother." her mother huffed slightly hearing that.

"I will organise your enrolment to the academy, and you will meet with the Chancellor there, he is an old friend of ours. Your mother will kickstart your biotic training, and I too will help you along with learning it." Her father noted.

"BUT, we will start on that NEXT week. You should rest up until then sweetie, but don't worry because next week we will begin your tor- I mean training, okay?" Jane interrupted with a kind smile, but Erza knew better.

Her parents urged her to rest for the night, but Erza had one more question,

"Mom, dad, what is N7?"

The older Shepards looked at each other, Jane decided to answer "N7...is a little group of ours in the military. Myself, your father and the other people in that photo you saw are the founders, the first members!" Her face turned boastful " You could say we are the best of the best, and your father and Gas Mask Man hate adding people into it. Always wanted the whole 'exclusive' feel to it so they put in some ridiculously hard test for anyone wanting to join...but who knows, maybe you can."

John continued, "you will know more about N7 soon, for now rest Erza, you must be tired."

Erza was still curious, N7 according to her mother was 'best of the best', she wanted to know more about it. But that will have to wait, she was too exhausted to think right now.

* * *

**AN: ****Here we are, another Chapter for all of you, it turned out to be a little longer than I had expected. I really hope I did the fight scene good enough, I am still practicing on that at the moment.**

**What did we learn from this chapter? ****I have added a little more hints as to who John and Jane Shepard are, and I also added some character pseudo-appearances at the end, do you know who they are?**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated, I will also consider anything constructive. Learning never ends after all. Thanks!**

**Druid**


	5. October 10th

**AN: I warmly thank everyone for their reviews, follows and likes! THANKS TO ALL!**

** I have done it, it took me quite a while because I had a lot of things to get out of my chest in writing this chapter...just to let you know in advance it will focus quite extensively on Naruto himself, and there was quite a bit of difficulty on my part in writing it. All in all, I wrote what I wanted and hope you all like it. Well nothing else for me to say right now, just read on and I will leave another AN at the end.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.**

"Conversation"

"[Elementaris/Shinobi Speech]"

**"Powerful being talking/Jutsu"**

* * *

Mindscape:

Erza opened her eyes again, and suffice to say she was not happy with what she saw,

She cursed under her breath, "Not again..."

As to where she was, it was hard for her to truly describe; was it hell? was it the end of the world? Those were just some ideas that came out of her thoughts the moment she witnessed this place. To describe it in the best of her abilities, it looked like the city she was born in, the place she had faced her hell in, Metropolis 11. There was however a twisted catch to the place, it was in ruins, dirt, soot, ashes and _blood_ littered the streets, the rain was so heavy that there was not even a single sliver of sunlight to be seen. To end it all, the ruins were desolate, not a single soul to be seen or heard. She was alone, in this parody of a childhood memory.

Or so she thought...

**"Queen..."**

Erza snapped her head to the direction of the voice, and true to it, there was the familiar sight of herself, as bloodied as she saw herself on the night prior to her birthday...her insanity. Her Madness for the lack of a better description had an undescribeable expression on her face, a mix of a cruel smirk and a childish smile, that look unnerved Erza endlessly, she truly hoped the first time she met Madness would be the last time she would have to. It looks like this was not to be the case.

Erza's surroundings blurred and the ruined pavements and old concrete buildings from the 21st century was replaced with another familiar place in her memory, it was the park she used to go to during her less troublesome parts of her life, at the centre of the slums. There was however many differences to it, it was bigger than what she remembered and it looked...displaced. It was almost as it the original park during her time at the slums was forcibly dug out and replacing it was a large green field in the middle of a ruined concrete jungle, except the grass were dried and whitered.

At the centre of the once green field was a large tree. It looked charred much like everything surrounding it and on its branch was a simple swing, the field and the tree felt familiar to her but she could not for her life understood why.

Breaking her out of her thoughts was Madness, she was now inches away from Erza staring into her green eyes with her own deranged ones. Her expression completely unmoving but Erza could detect rage building up in her insane persona.

**"We were meant to be together my lovely, beautiful Queen. I was what kept you alive all these years, feeding your anger, nurturing your resolve, made you ready for when we could be as one and grip this world by its neck, if you would only place your _faith _in me. That was what _he_** **called it****..._faith_?"**

The smile was now wiped off her insanity's face, replaced with a continuously growing sneer.

**"_F_uck faith..._h__e _told you to have faith and you scavenged it from the sheer depths of your hopelessness for something the doesn't even exist anymore. He told you to protect others in need when NO ONE protected us in our time of need, guess what you said yes too. And he had the fucking guts to stop us from becoming stronger when we needed the strength to destroy those who wronged us. He may be a God, but when we are one, we can be our own if only you will us to..." **with that, Madness gripped Erza's head with both her hands and placed her face closer and made greater eye contact with her 'Queen'. Erza was shocked by the sudden movement and was slowly becoming fearful.

**"We have one more chance Queen, we can still be _perfect._ Who was by your side the moment you were born, it was me! Who was it who made you stronger when anyone else would roll over and die, it was me! And guess who can give you the power and the potential become a God? BINGO! IT WILL BE ME! So all YOU need to to is say yes, we will become stronger and we will kick Ripple Eyes out of _our_ body forever, he will not get a say in how we live our life...and all it takes is one word."** Madness' was now grinning wickedly when she finished her monologue.

Erza knew what would happen when she said yes, she knew what would happen to the people around her if they became one. She did not want that to happen, she did not want to be someone to have killing so deeply ingrained into her person. Madness was exactly that, a personification of her insanity, and that was reason enough to not to cave in to her demands. Struggling under the pressure of Madness' grip, Erza tried to set a glare of her own and made a firm declaration.

"No!" Her insanity was rendered speechless after Erza blurted out that word, her face was blank for a short moment, and then it was replaced with a renewed sneer, one that was rage-filled.

**"I am disappointed in you Queen, I would have given you everything, I would have been your shield, I would have given you the world. We are both one of the same, two sides of the same coin. I gave you my heart and in return I hope you gave me yours...but no. You just decided to drop me on the floor and step on every kind gesture that I so graciously give you, all for who? Some fool with fucked-up eyes that you claimed is a god? Oh yes, I thought him a god once, but now I knew we could be one too. I was _offering_ it to you, so we could enjoy it together...but now it looks like you lack the balls to go along with it."**

Erza's madness removed her left palm from her head and it was now facing her head and had red biotic energy coursing through it. Erza knew what Madness was going to do the moment that took place, and she was soon going to receive confirmation.

**"Looks like it is time to overthrow the incompetent Queen" **declared Madness, her biotically charged arm now a fist.

Erza closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to take place, but she was once again subjected to another surprise.

Gravity and wind bent around her and she felt the grip on her head now gone, she opened her eyes and saw her insanity being flung metres away from her by a familiar invisible force. It came from behind so Erza decide to look back, her breathing stopped again and time seemed to slow down, for she was faced with the familiar presence of her saviour.

* * *

Rikudou's POV

Five years of never-ending torture and torment turned it into a what could best be described as a large chunk of the city the young girl stayed in with one main difference, it was in ruins. The representation of the buildings, were that of rubble, burnt foundations and the streets were filled with ashes, there were also stains of wet and dried blood across the said streets and walls. Completing the ruined mindscape were dark clouds and never-ending rain. It appeared that her darker emotions were fuelling the transformation of her mindscape, once again Rikudou was faced with an odd sense of nostalgia, it reminded him vaguely of his own in the distant past but this was without a doubt the representation of a mind that was dangerously close to being broken, worse than the mindscape that he had when he was incomplete, a child in despair.

Rikudou did not need to tarry any further, it was time for him to get to work.

Looking for a mental aspect, a bona-fide Yami was ridiculously difficult if the said aspect was not part of himself. He remembered the sheer effortlessness of meeting _his_ darker side, it was not hard finding his Yami, but it was an entirely different story when it came to _facing _him. Finding Erza's dark side was paramount the moment he arrived into her mindscape, when he saw the redhead back at the slums, and he sensed that her dark side was so much stronger than what it should be, strong enough that with just a little push it could break Erza's mind entirely and replace hers entirely. If that happens, he prays to Creation what would happen to this world.

After hours upon hours of searching, he sensed a shift in the mindscape that he easily identified as Erza's dark side pulling her in. Looks like if what he thinks she would do turns out to be true, it would likely take place at the centre of the mindscape. Well, best bet to find her then...

True enough, he reached the centre of the mindscape and there was Erza, clearly about to be destroyed by her darker mind. Rikudou acted fast and released an _almighty push in _Erza's Yami's direction. It did the trick and Yami was forced back harshly, freeing Erza in the process. Rikudou let out a large sigh and lowered his head for a short moment, and hence did not see said redhead turning her head back to look at him with wide eyes.

"[Kuso...took a long time to actually find that damn _Yami_, a little longer I would have witnessed a probable Ichibi...]" Rikudou cursed quietly in his native language, he had better subdue Erza's Yami as soon as possible before she disappears again and waste another few good days searching for her.

His thoughts were interrupted when he was tackled by a red blur, thanks to his physique he managed to stay standing upright. Rikudou looked up and and saw Erza hugging him tightly her head buried in his chest and she was sobbing silently.

"It's really you...my Sage, saviour..." she mumbled silently, Rikudou did not know what to say to this, pardon his lack of forward planning and eloquence but since he is faced with an obviously hostile Yami, he has dedicated the whole of his attention on controlling it until said redhead was strong enough and old enough to do the job.

Speaking of dark side, Erza's Yami stood back up, her face contorted in unfathomable rage. Her entire body soon surged with red mass effect energy and the mindscape started to shake violently. Parts of the rubble started to detach from the ground and the destroyed foundations of the city mindscape, and when those happened, Rikudou noted Erza started to clutch her head tightly and screaming in what was likely blinding pain.

"Stop this right now Yami, the damage of the mindscape will have untold repercussions on Erza's mind. Destroying it will break her mind entirely!" Rikudou frantically yelled back at Yami. Though that did not stop her not one bit.

**"Oh, no biggie, I am going to take over her mind anyway, perhaps this will speed up the process! Also, I get to kick your ripple-eyes ass on the side, two for the price of one I say it's a steal! Guess whose entrails I'm gonna rip out and skip rope with?!"** The detached rubble were now floating above Yami ready to launch it at Rikudou and Erza, who was in pain.

Rikudou cursed at that, the Yami obviously did not know that destroying the mindscape did MORE than just removing Erza's base mind and personality...he then saw the rubble surging towards him and Erza in his arms, he made a quick dodge and the rubble crashed to the ground, creating more destruction. Erza's pain multiplied every moment, evidenced by her now twitching form and whimpers.

That was it, Rikudou knew only one place where she could be momentarily safe. He did not want to do it and NO ONE whether young or old should witness its secrets but it was way less hazardous than being here. He sigh and lifted Erza's head to face him, she was still conscious her green eyes staring at him weakly and tears of pain still falling, a face that broke his heart. Rikudou absently noted the lower part of her body was slowly dispersing, damage was being done to her mindscape and it must stop.

"Child, I am sorry but you will be safer this way. Close your eyes and your pain will leave" Erza closed her eyes and Rikudou placed his free palm on her head. He absorbed Erza's consciousness and her entire projection disappeared from her mindscape. Said redhead was now being stored into Rikudou's own mind and memories, at least for the duration of this confrontation.

His face hardened and he faced Erza's insane doppelgänger, he declared calmly "This has to end now Yami, you shall not cause further damage to this mindscape or I shall have to take you down in the most unpleasant way possible."

**"*Gasp* are my years deceiving me? You, an almighty, all knowing lord and master are threatening a poor innocent little girl who doesn't know what she is doing?! Spare me your words ****ripple man, I'll rip out your eyeballs and kick you out of here before you can even lay a hand on me!" **The mindscape started to shake even more violently and Rikudou could faintly see extra translucent biotic 'arms' attached to Yami's back, grabbing on to anything within the mindscape that could be used as a projectile. Any object firmly in place were sliced off cleanly by her 'arms' to create new projectiles. Once again he resorted to silent cursing, looks like this persona had no idea what damage to Erza's mind she could cause with all these wanton destruction, all just to prove a point. To add to this problem, she was arrogant AND insane, another blast from the past. Soon after Yami's declaration, the various pieces of rubble were hurled to his direction, and she even launched an endless barrage of warp projectiles towards him, all whilst wearing an arrogant smirk.

A part of Rikudou could not wait to beat that arrogance out of her, and that part noted the best way to do it was through shock and awe, making sure what he did to Yami was strong enough to subdue her, but could also leave a statement.

He lived multiple millennia and one of the surefire ways to shut smug people up was to show them you were _better_ in every way.

As the rain of death was quickly approaching Rikudou, his eyes shone a bright purple and the six tomoes surrounding his Yin/Yang pupil started to spin madly. His entire person was engulfed in a bright white flame, Rikudou then muttered.

**"Susanoo" **the fire around Rikudou reached new heights, multi-storeys specifically, soon the white flames started to take form, becoming increasingly humanoid in appearance. Seconds later, the projectiles launched by Erza's Yami were now approaching a multi-storey behemoth of flames instead, the sage within it and standing very still. It's appearance resembled Rikudou, it was heavily cloaked and armoured, the six jewelled necklace around his neck was completely replicated, and so was the same striking ripple eyes. The only real difference was that it was wearing a horned helm complete with a mask that covered its entire face from view instead to Rikudou's horned headband. The moment the projectiles touched the flaming behemoth, the rubble vaporised whilst the warps completely dispersed.

The smirk was wiped off Erza's Yami, and replacing it was an expression of panic and fear mixed in with a generous amount of awe. This was exactly what Rikudou wanted and since Erza's Yami was caught extensively off guard from the sheer uselessness of her attack, Rikudou decided to act fast before she snapped out of it and..._run_. That would be really troublesome.

He willed his Susanoo to lash out its arm and grab onto Erza's Yami before she could do anything, but alas nothing in existence ever took place without a little difficulty. Yami snapped out of it and made a quick dodge with a biotically enhanced dash to the side. She tried sending another warp towards the _thing_ but that did nothing to it at all, it was engulfed into the fiery projection.

Rikudou then observed Erza's Yami teleported a fair distance away from him, and started to form significant amounts of mass effect in both of her hands, believe him when he said significant, the amount of energy was enormous considering the most powerful Asari Ardat-Yakshi could only muster about 40 per cent at the sheer maximum before they die of exhaustion. Green fire burst out of Yami's eyes giving the impression of burning eyes. Rikudou grumbled at the sheer futility of her efforts, even without Susanoo her chances of causing him any damage was a stretch at best and this was certainly going to cause her more harm, and especially so for Erza's mindscape.

Rikudou tried to reach for Yami as fast as he could and with his Susanoo's aid, his reach multiplied ten-fold, but by the time he was close enough, Yami was done and launched a supercharged singularity at the Sage and his summon.

It was perhaps the biggest singularity to ever be formed if it did not take place in the most SENSITIVE part of the human mind, if Rikudou was not too busy trying to break free from it he would have admired the sheer power, it was comparable to his _Chibaku Tensei _at 20 per cent which was NOTHING to laugh about, even at 10 percent power, a Chibaku tensei from the Sage of Six Paths was capable ripping hundreds of men into base matter, and suffice to say any stronger and it was capable to construct a moon of varying sizes...

BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE A CRITIC, Yami was keeping the singularity intact, and it looks like she was becoming increasingly strained, but it is slowly and surely destroying everything in Erza's mindscape. He had to break free this instance and stop that insanity, so he place more chakra into his Susanoo and with that he broke through the singularity and finally lashed Susanoo's hand and grabbed on to Yami's small frame and crushed her towards the ground.

Yami's channeling stopped and the singularity collapsed, all that was left was the ever present Susanoo, a very damaged mindscape and an exhausted evil doppelgänger, who was looking back at the fiery behemoth in terror.

The Sage looked around, he had to keep this persona in check, scare her a lot and place some kind of restriction seal on her, otherwise this will not bode well for Erza at all. He hated acting like an arrogant prick with a god-complex, but for someone like Erza's Yami, that was the only way to get the point across...

He released choking amounts of Killing Intent, and spoke to Yami, **"You claim yourself capable to be a God, well _girl _now you understand the power of a true God. Do not cross me, or I will give you _pain _and I will give you _horror _unimaginable. It is just so simple for me, _do you understand?_"  
**Throughout Rikudou's ultimatum, his Susanoo was slowly searing Yami's skin. She had not choice but to nod furiously, he knew she would be kept in line, at least for the time being...

He released his Susanoo and approached Erza's Yami, the fingers of his right palm now burst into purple flames, he raised his palm towards Yami's stomach.

**"Gogyō Fūin" **and strike her stomach hard, Yami's eyes widened in the sudden surge of pain throughout her entire body and she made a silent scream. After the pain was gone, she was reduced to a whimper. Rikudou knew this would block off her biotic powers and any other latent abilities she had in Erza's minds cape. So essentially she was reduced to an insane little girl who yells out profanities and death threats.

Rikudou kneeled down towards the prone form of Erza's Yami, his voice remained firm, but now lack the hardness from before. "What you did was stupid Yami, the destruction of this mindscape will not only destroy Erza's mind, but everything else in it, _including_ you. Now as you know I have sealed off all your EZ Nodules, but worry not for when the time is right, and Erza herself is strong enough, I will unseal them and what happens next will be beyond my right to control."

Rikudou saw Yami's confused look, so he made one last statement, "You are Erza's inner darkness, given form and power from all the experiences she has had, and only she herself can reconcile with you. Whether she succumbs to you, or rise up from the darkness, it is all up to her when the time is right."

Yami just gave a sardonic chuckle, he voice now devoid of power, the voice of a little girl "Queen...she can try, and she WILL fail. I have always been stronger and smarter. What makes you think she could control me o' lord and master?"

The Sage was silent for a short moment before giving Yami a wide grin that _creeped_ her out, he said, "Because...I still have faith, believe it." he bridle-carried Erza's Yami and teleported to the centre of the mindscape which he was relieved was untouched by the chaos that happened before. He laid her on the side of the tree, and could hear her weak scoff and whisper of "faith". Thinking back again, he realised the large disparity of strength between Erza and her dark side were, that was testament to the dark world she lived in for the early parts of her childhood. He would have to remedy that without question. But first, he had a mindscape to repair, he had to restore it at least until before it was damaged by her Yami, then he could extract Erza's consciousness from his mind. That was the last place he would ever want the girl to be but it was there or the pain of a damaged mind. Though with her mind so heavily damaged, by the time he was done repairing it, he hoped she would forget everything that took place here...and there.

He made his way to the tree, created a stone platform for him to sit, one that was leaning against the tree. He sat on the platform in a meditative stance, both of his palms facing upwards. His rippled eyes started to burn a brighter mix of white and purple light, his tomoes spinning wildly, and his Yin/Yang pupil doing the same. On his left palm a small black flame burst out, whilst to his right palm a larger white flame burst out. There was a few seconds where nothing else happened, then a sudden white pulse was released from Rikudou across the ruined mindscape. He whispered a word that could not be heard by anyone, not even by the exhausted Yami.

Slowly but surely, the mindscape began to mend, and the damage caused by the fight were being undone almost as if time itself was being reversed...though spillover from his power to Erza's mind was inevitable.

* * *

Memory

Scorched earth...

It was a battlefield, and from what she could discern it must have been a filled with life before whatever happened took place. She was left wondering the dead field looking for any signs of life. She did not know for how long she had been walking but eventually she settled upon a large crater, in it was a large mist of black and white energy and at the centre, two prone figures, trying to stand up. She walked slowly to the centre of the crater and took a closer look at the two figures. Both of them were black haired men, and heavily injured. One had short spiky hair and a half of his face was ruined, the other had long spiky hair and his faced was...cracked. They were both looking at the mist that seemed to gather together slowly but surely.

Soon it started to take form and became increasingly human in appearance, it's head soon had horns and the cloak became visible. She caught sight of his eyes and was slightly frightened by it, two blood red orbs that had four concentric circles and three commas attached to each. But they soon dissolved and reformed into the eyes she knew all too well, it became purple, had the same concentric circles, the odd pupil and the six commas surrounding, she knew immediately it was Rikudou. The mist of energy fully converged and his body became tangible and his unmistakeable appearance was clear for her and the two prone figures to see.

Speaking of the two men, their looks were hard to discern, perhaps anger? Despite the state they were in, it was obvious they had their full attention towards her saviour. Rikudou and the two prone men were silent for some time, waiting for the first person to break it.

Rikudou decided to break the silence himself, he once again spoke in the language she heard but did not understand, key word being 'did', for now she knew what he was saying and she did not know why. Frankly she did not care.

"[Obito, Madara, was it all worth it?]" Rikudou asked both prone figures, Erza identified that her saviour regarded the short-haired man as 'Obito' and the long-haired man as 'Madara'. She would hazard a guess that these were their names, the fascination of suddenly understanding a new language almost without explanation was now replaced with curiosity as to what her saviour was about to say to these two men, and who they were exactly.

"[*Cough*, *cough*, it would have all been worth it boy... the Uchiha would have reigned supreme, just like they always should have. The Juubi was to be our weapon, the Eye of the Moon would have been our achievement. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is the pinnacle of human perfection, so much so that the Rinnegan itself is bred from a Sharingan. I would have made the worthless herd understood their place but you, you just had to ruin everything, EVERYTHING I worked for!]" The long-haired man, she remembered as Madara was the first to respond, he was now standing nearly upright, almost ready for a fight.

For most parts, her saviour remained unaffected by the man's rant, after a short moment he voiced up again, "[You believed that the Uchihas were _fated_ to reign in this world, that you believed no one will change that? The Sharingan, the most powerful bloodline, superior in every way that the Rinnegan is an extension of it? Do you,both of you truly believe that is to be the case?]"

This time the short-haired man spoke up, he too was back on his feet "[We are the strongest of the Shinobi in the whole elemental nations, we have the Sharingan as our birthright, the Rinnegan, the very eyes of the Sage of Six Paths is also our tool to use at will. While you boy...those new eyes of yours are only 'given' to you when you absorbed Juubi, they were never yours to begin with, you are no Uchiha for you will never master the eyes of God-]" The short-haired man paused in his speech when he apparently felt a surge of invisible pain throughout his body and it got him to his knees, if his sudden screaming was of any indication, Erza looked back at Rikudou and saw his fierce, deathly gaze on the man in pain. This lasted for a few seconds and then it stopped, the man was now breathing heavily, but still glaring fiercely at Rikudou.

She heard a sigh from her saviour, "[close to a thousand years and yet the Uchiha remained the same as they were, the millennia of experience, and extermination taught you nothing. You even stoop yourselves so low to consider your eyes to be stronger than the eyes of the Sage...]"

Obito seemed to lose his temper even more and started shouting, "[What do you know about the way of this world, all you have ever been was the naive little boy who always dreamt of being Hokage, believing that all the hate in this world can be magically erased because you believe it so.]" It was obvious that Obito was letting his emotions fuel his words, since Madara took a contemplating look, almost as if there was something that was vital to understand but was beyond his comprehension as of yet.

Her saviour snapped back at Obito, "[You are allowing your emotions to cloud your rationality _child. _You agreed to it yourself, nothing in this world is as simple as it appeared, and to quote an old comrade of yours, you have failed to _look underneath the_ underneath.]" That seemed to make something in Obito's head snap and in seconds he was charging towards Rikudou in unbelievable speed, a dagger in his hand obviously intent on causing harm to him.

Unfortunately for him, Rikudou blocked the strike with no effort in his part and planted a well-placed palm strike to the man's abdomen. Obito was forced back a distance, but he did not let up, both of his eyes started to glow (which Erza started wondering what was with people and glowing eyes)... She looked closer to the man's eyes and saw them to be morbidly mismatched, his right was a deep red with strange blade-like pattern, and his right was awfully similar to Rikudou's though it only possessed the concentric circle and the purple sclera and nothing else.

"[DO NOT MOCK ME BOY, I will show you the full extent of my power, the power of an Uchiha] **Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu**", with that an incredibly large ball of fire came out from the man's mouth and was headed towards Rikudou's direction. Erza was getting used to all these little surprises that she seemed to witness, so all she felt was worry for her saviour... but knowing him to some extent she was confident he could get out of this encounter.

Escape he did, Rikudou's entire body dispersed into a mist of energy moments before the fireball touched him, the mist then rushed towards the Obito person and Rikudou became fully formed and tangible again, Obito started to engage in melee combat with Rikudou. Obito was relentless in his assault but Rikudou effortlessly weaved through each strike and returned a few quick strikes on Obito, all of them hitting their mark.

Obito jumped back and raised his right palm towards Rikudou, a very familiar gesture considering her saviour did something similar himself. **"Shinra Tensei!" **those were the same words she heard her saviour whispered as well, but this man seemed to yell it out in blind rage. To see the destructive force being formed and heading towards her saviour, Erza was worried as to how he would handle this new problem.

To her shock again, she saw Rikudou, fully unaffected by the gravitational destruction, it literally phased through him. This shock seemed to be emulated by the Obito person as he was motionless for a few seconds. That was all the time for Rikudou to react accordingly;

**"Bansho Ten'in"**, Obito was dragged harshly by gravity itself. A bright blue sphere of energy that resembled a drill was formed in Rikudou's hand in less than a second and when Obito was in arms reach Rikudou shoved the sphere into the man's abdomen. Clear drilling of flesh was heard and a large explosion launched the man a few metres back from Rikudou, Obito was now on the ground and in moments golden chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the downed man, fully trapping him.

Just like that, the one-sided engagement came to an end.

Rikudou now laid eyes back at the other man Madara who was standing motionless, but was also demonstrating silent shock to the turn of events.

"[You are all children to my eyes, young gakis with too much hot air and too much arrogance to understand the truth behind your existence, a gift and you are consumed with false delusions. 'Curse of hatred', foolish little tantrums bred by envy, you lot were my biggest regret.]" As of this point, Madara and even Obito took on mildly confused looks, something not missed by Rikudou and Erza herself.

Madara expressed his confusion "[What is that suppose to mean, that you understand the Uchiha better than us?] Rikudou gave whithering looks to the two-black-haired men with his Rippled eyes before saying, "[Let me tell you a tale, perhaps that will give further clarification, if you wish to humour me]" The long-haired man seemed to comply begrudgingly, perhaps his urge to know Rikudou's point of view overriding any sense to refuse.

* * *

_Prior to the age of the Shinobi, there lived a Sage, he was regarded as a messiah to some, a god trapped in the body of a man to others, deemed a Child of Prophecy capable of many feats;  
He taught the people his arts, shared his knowledge with any person willing to learn, and protected them from destruction;  
Like any man, the Sage fell in love with a woman, and she in turn fell in love not with the Sage, but the man;  
With them as one, the Sage and his love gave birth to three children;  
__The first two were sons, both similar in appearance, whilst the third and youngest was a daughter, whom bore the spitting image of the mother who brought her to this world;  
For few years the Sage knew peace, but he hearkened the laws of nature, he was born a mortal and hence would die a mortal;  
The Sage knew he needed an heir._

_One of his children would be made his heir, so the Sage considered his first son and was saddened;  
He wield unyielding determination, ruthlessness, the discipline and decisiveness of a warrior;  
However with those strengths he had weaknesses;  
For he was petty, prone to holding grudges, his heart filled with spite, and he held ambitions that he had no right to bear for he wanted absolute power;  
The Sage deemed him unfit to be his heir, but he was the Sage's son, and he his father;  
Hence he would give him a fragment of his eyes, and nothing more;  
Thus he would be called Uchiha._

_One of his children would be made his heir, so the Sage considered his second son and was saddened;  
He was benevolent, virtuous, merciful and his sense of morality admirable;  
However with those strengths were his weaknesses;  
For he was too indecisive, his ideals stunted his rationality, his unwillingness to go against moralities, stunted his actions;  
__The Sage deemed him unfit to be his heir, but he too was the Sage's son, and he his father;  
__Hence he would give him a fragment of his body, and nothing more;  
Thus he would be called Senju._

_One of his children would be made his heir, so the Sage considered his only daughter and was content;  
She had strength of will, wisdom beyond her age, and possessed a great perseverance fitting for a sage and a warrior;  
Though with her strengths, she was not subjected to weaknesses;  
She was merciful when needed, wrathful when necessary, gentle at the best of times, pragmatic at a time of crisis;  
The Sage deemed her fit to be his heir, and she was the Sage's daughter, and he her father;  
Hence he would give her everything, his eyes, his body and his soul in their entirety when his earthly vessel fell;  
She would bear his name, she would be called Uzumaki, after her father._

_His first son, Uchiha received the Sage's gift, he was dissatisfied, resentful, jealous;  
He wanted more;  
__The resentment and jealousy bred a self titled Curse of Hatred, with it the hate for his siblings;  
__Uchiha deemed himself worthy of more, power to destroy his enemies and to rule over the land that was not his._

_His Second son, Senju received the Sage's gift, he too was dissatisfied, blinded;  
He needed more;  
The ideals bred a self titled Will of Fire, with it the blinded love and mercy for his enemies that would end him if given opportunity__;  
Senju deemed himself worthy of more, power to bring peace to the land through an ideal that was never to be._

_His only daughter, Uzumaki received the Sage's gift, she was humbled, but confused;  
She need not nor did she want it;  
She understood why she was chosen, her brothers were too deep into ideals and with them their weaknesses;  
Uzumaki deemed herself unworthy, power too great it would cause discord, power she felt her father should take to the afterlife._

_The Sage admired his daughter's resolve, though he gave her everything, he kept her gifts dormant;  
On his deathbed, he gave his dormant soul to her daughter, a long slumber befell him;  
And in a time of need, he will be reborn and he will adorn the gifts he had given to his daughter;  
He took his gifts to the afterlife, and he will bring it back upon his return, he was the first, and he would be the second;  
A cycle renewed.._

* * *

With that the story ended, Erza was thoroughly confused with the tale. Though the other two of the audience did not reciprocate her thoughts. Both of them bore expressions of bewilderment, defiance, and denial. It looked like this story affected them far more than her, she wanted to ask Rikudou for more details or to explain but she was very aware that she was invisible to them.

Madara looked enraged, "[Lies all of them! The Uchiha are the masters of this world. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan are the eyes of god, and you are suppose to be the Rikudou Sennin?! Madness! You may have defeated the Juubi, but you are never capable of besting me. I will have to show you myself the mistake you have made crossing me boy, and the mistake of insulting an Uchiha!]", potent dark purple flames started to burst out of the long-haired man in waves, soon both of his eyes morphed in to a different patterned red. Erza then heard him scream, **"Susanoo!"**

She was treated to another breath-taking sight of a behemoth, its entire body constructed from the man's flames. For most parts, it resembled a cloaked humanoid and its presence intimidating as it towered over everyone else by metres. All that while the long-haired man had an increasingly deranged smirk, "[The Complete Susanoo! The pinnacle power of an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, not even the Rinnegan is capable of this power! You will die today Uzumaki!]"

The large behemoth raised its arm to utterly destroy Rikudou. This was reason enough for another panic attack on the little red-head, the behemoth of energy was massive and she was afraid for a her saviour, despire her growing confidence in his abilities, she could not help it.

Rikudou looked at the behemoth with cold indifference, his body unmoving. She heard him sigh and watched him raised an open palm lazily towards the approaching arm of the behemoth and a whisper **"Susanoo"**. A maelstrom of white flames became visible around his body as well and soon enough Erza was faced with another energy colossus, but different in appearance. It looked strikingly similar to Rikudou himself but it was a head bigger than the long-haired man's behemoth. It formed in only a few seconds and Rikudou's colossus grab hold of Madara's own attacking arm.

Madara himself was now genuinely shocked, and had a look of panic and denial. Erza herself, was tempted to just lie down on the ground and ignore all these surprises and flashy demonstrations. All the 'shock and awe' was really draining on her psyche...she was just a little girl for the love of...then she realised her saviour was the closest thing to a God she knew.

Rikudou's colossus ripped the arms of Madara's own, and in a swift movement she would think impossible for something so large, a sword of golden flames materialised in the colossus's hand and swiftly sliced the head off the the long-haired man's construct. It was destroyed in moments with a fiery explosion that launched Madara a distance back. Rikudou released his colossus and walked towards the downed man. When he was close enough, he grabbed the man's neck, pulled him up from the ground and his metallic purple eyes now bore into his red patterned one.

"[The Sharingan is a _fragment_ of the Sage's eyes, _my_ eyes. I willed it to be inferior to The Rinnegan in every way, and it has always been so. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, the pathetic parody of my eyes that you _think_ is my Rinnegan as foolish as that is, are merely imperfections to my designs, imperfections exploited from the Uchiha's greed for power, exploits that resulted to more death.]" Rikudou declared coldly.

Madara struggled to voice out, but his voice sounded resigned and bitter "[So, what does that mean? That you are indeed the Sage, the God among men?]" Obito continued with his own questions, there was without a doubt a sadness in his voice "[Does that mean...being the son of Minato-sensei meant nothing to you?]".

Erza saw a look on her saviour's face, was it sadness? He glanced back at the chained man on the ground and said nothing for a while. The silence was soon broken, "[I was, I am and I always will be Rikudou Sennin...and Uzumaki Naruto. We are one of the same. I am the father of three children with different legacies, achievements and mistakes but I am also the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, and I care for each and every one of them. They were and always will be people precious to me even in their death... even when I am now _whole_" A lone tear fell off his right eye and he looked back at Madara.

Madara then spoke out, "[Whole? What is that suppose to mean?]"

"[The Uzumaki Naruto you knew, that Obito knew, was merely a fragment of the real person, of myself. He was a fragment that represented my compassion, my faith, my morality. He was incomplete, but now I am whole.]"

"[Then what of Juubi? What of-]"

"[The Juubi is not yours to understand, nor is it of your benefit to do so.]' The Sage firmly dismissed.

But his gaze on Madara softened very slightly.

"[You were merely a star in my son's eyes, but you were very much like him. His strengths and achievements, as well as his weaknesses. As a father, his mistakes are mine to bear, and your actions are the product of my shortcomings...which is why I will take responsibility of my wrongs before this chaos spreads further.]" His face hardened and a grim determination spread across his face. Rikudou placed his free hand firmly on both sides of Madara's temple, "[I gave my son a fragment of my eyes, I can just as easily take it back from his descendants.]"

Madara's eyes widened in panic and he started to move violently in Rikudou's iron grip, but he could not escape. Black energy coursed through his arm and into Madara's eyes, and a haunting scream was heard, Erza winced at the likely agony the long-haired man must be experiencing. As soon as it started, it ended and Madara was promptly dropped on the ground, he opened his eyes soon later and they were...a dark violet colour, the read patterned corneas gone.

This was repeated on the man chained to the ground, another wave of agonising screams were heard but that ended as fast as it started. Erza saw the same violet eyes on him as well. These turn of events were soon followed by another anger-filled scream by Madara, Erza could feel the rage, hopelessness, agony and sadness from the scream. It was almost as if something vital, that was part of him was forever taken away, as if his purpose in life was forever gone. Obito, the short-haired man was now silent though she could have sworn she heard sobbing coming off from him.

Madara's screams ended, now his voice weaker and broken, a little above a whisper, he spoke "[Konoha...I would have seen it destroyed. A place where I knew nothing but hate. I gave them everything, and I received nothing.]"

"[Rin, I am sorry I could not avenge you...could not bring justice to your death. Kakashi still lives, the village of hypocrites still left standing, all the hate I thought I could use as a weapon, became worthless in the end.]" He looked back at Rikudou, all the fire in him gone, "[you have done it then Naruto...Rikudou, whoever you are. We are done, the Fourth Great War is done. Konoha stands, all the villages stand...so what now-]" Obito did not finish his question when he was promptly stabbed through the heart by sword conjured out of thin air by Rikudou. A brief look of shock grazed Obito's features but soon enough the life drained from his face, the short-haired man was dead.

Rikudou placed his body on the ground, and closed his still-opened eyes, the moment he started walking away from the body, fire erupted from it and in moments all that is left of the man was ash. The Sage contemplated out loud as he walked back to Madara.

"[Konoha, all these problems always revolved around the village that my sons have forged in such a fragile alliance. On the surface, it talks of peace, love, unity and camaraderie. Underneath the surface, it holds the bitter nature of greed, hate, bigotry, idiocy...hypocrisy. Will of fire and curse of Hatred, two childish ideals that made up a village, a contradiction in itself, contradictions that breeds chaos.]"

Madara's now violet eyes widened when he heard Rikudou's declaration, but that did not stop the sage from continuing, he soon was facing a powerless Madara, "[Konoha will be destroyed, and so will every other Shinobi village. Perhaps this will be my parting gift to you...as a father, I am sorry I could not be better parent to my son and his children...but as that little boy born on October 10th, I forgive you for everything, that would have been what my parents would have wanted.]" He stabbed his sword through Madara's chest, much like he did with Obito. Rikudou saw the life slowly leave Madara's eyes and soon enough his now violet eyes dulled completely, "[you, your brother and your sister, we are Uzumaki in all but name...]". Upon his death the man's body crumbled into dust.

"[Shinobi...their very existence breeds violence, Four Great Wars upon my slumber, and with it the deaths of millions. My children were born into this cycle, a cycle of hatred, a cycle of madness.]" Rikudou looked up at the now visible moon "[Kaa-san, Tou-san, we were all born in this world of madness, a world I have created, and a world that I will undo. The last of the Uchiha, Konoha, and every other village will be removed. The cycle of the Shinobi is over, and I hope the both of you will lend me your strength.]". His eyes then closed in contemplation.

Erza watched Rikudou, his figure unmoving. She tried to reach to touch him but her arm merely fazed through the Sage; she had undoubtedly learned more of her saviour but she could not for the life of her make sense to anything that had been said and done. Who were the two men he killed, what were Shinobi? Her saviour's behaviour was also her biggest source of confusion, throughout this...encounter for the lack of a better description, he seemed to posses different personalities, almost as if he was two people at once. They were distinct to each other but on the other hand were united, their contradictions bred harmony... He was ruthless but caring, merciless but remorseful, _old_ but _young _as crazy as that sounded...suffice to say what she found out about her saviour only created more questions.

But alas, not all was for naught, as Erza had finally known her saviour's true name...Naruto...she would never forget his name...and October 10th, she would always appreciate that special day, not for her, but for him.

Riku...Naruto suddenly tensed almost as if someone was approaching him, and Erza soon found out someone really was approaching. Her saviour turned his back and she follow and look behind as well. Behind them was a boy, 16 years of age if she had to guess, he could certainly come across as a relative of the two men who died, perhaps he was. He wore a red and white cloak and a strange triangular hat with writing in the ancient language at the front of it. Behind him were a group of 30 cloaked men she recognised in her previous dream, their plain white masks were a dead giveaway. The boy facing her saviour had a cocky smirk on his face that she immediately hated to see, though she could not help but wonder where did she see him before.

"[_Hokage-sama_...]" Naruto said, though that word was laced with veiled disgust and disappointment.

The smug man responded, "[Dobe, you look different, but I suppose that is irrelevant right now, you have destroyed Juubi, and removed the thorns on my side. Turns out Madara and Obito were useless Uchihas after all.]" The cloaked man took out a single edged sword from his back, and the masked men armed themselves as well.

"[On behalf of the village of Konoha, I the Shichidaime Hokage charge you Uzumaki Naruto for the death of millions of Shinobi, from Konohagakure and every other hidden village, the punishment is execution.]"

Naruto's eyes remained closed throughout the exchange, but Erza saw a single brow quirk up, then her saviour spoke, "[On what evidence?]" The other man responded, "[for holding the Juubi.]" This resulted in the Sage's head shaking in disbelief, "[what makes you think you and a handful of Root can take me down, teme?]" she saw the other man scowl.

"[Your bijuu is weakened, myself and my tools are more than enough to subdue you-]", cue a scoff from Naruto, "[had the many years of experience not erase your stupidity Sasuke? I acknowledge you have grown stronger, but strong enough to face me? Well we will just have to see about that, shall we?]" Naruto opened his eyes, Sasuke caught eye of it instantly and he tensed, his face in surprise and worry.

The ground started to shake, then pieces of flaming armours that she remembered from her previous dream rose up from the ground by Naruto's side, numbers matched the masked men facing the sage.

**"Onmyoton: Yojinbo"**, Naruto muttered, the flaming armours came to life, their eyes bore plain purple rippled eyes. They each unsheathed the flaming swords at their sides and took combat stances in perfect synchronisation, each facing an individual masked man.

"[I am afraid your 'tools' will not be of use to you. For the record, Juubi has become me, but a demon I am not, I am the Sage of Six Paths. You are a disgrace even to my son, and I will give you hell, before I destroy Konoha and you with it. In memory of an old war-hawk, hope you will get used to bandages.]" Naruto's form dispersed into mist again and surged towards this Sasuke, and the flaming armoured humanoids charged to their respective targets.

Then all became black...

* * *

Real World

Her eyes opened and she was greeted by the ever rude introduction to sunlight to her eyes. Erza groaned before getting up from the most comfortable bed she had ever slept on and rubbed her eyes quite violently. She then waited for her mind to reboot, which was incidentally the best way to describe the situation. Erza felt her muscles aching quite badly, perhaps due to the fact that she had a horribly uncomfortable life so far and being introduced to something comfortable for a change subjected her to some form of 'withdrawal'.

"Strange... I can't help but feel I should be remembering something." She muttered to herself, the little red-head felt that there was something she _should_ remember, a dream, premonition whatever the heck it was.

"Had a nice sleep sweetie or did the sun decided to be an ass?" Erza tensed, snapped her head to her left and saw her mother sitting next to her bed, her violet eyes shining with amusement and she had a warm smile on her face. That was reason enough to relax herself again; she gave her mother a small smile and nodded back to her, "Good morning mother."

The older red-head just shook her head and replied, "Oh good morning indeed, who would have thought you had been a heavy sleeper...you must have rarely rested well for it to be that way." Erza frowned slightly before replying, "What do you mean mom?"

"What I mean is that you were so deep asleep that not even gunfire could wake you up. You were asleep for close to two days, luckily you moved and squirmed in bed quite a bit otherwise your father and I would have been _really_ worried." That got Erza's attention, how was she asleep for that long? She would have been convinced if that was some form of a coma, even if an express one...

She stretched her arms and legs, and heard a generous bit of her bones cracking, her muscles were still aching quite a bit. Despite the two-day sleep, Erza remained quite tired.

"I knew one week off rest would be good for you, and what little girl said she wanted to get to work and train the next day huh? Come on two days of sleep has got to make you hungry! If it were me I would have taken 8 cups of instant ramen..." her stomach growled which made Erza blush. Her mother apparently found it adorable and giggled lightly.

When her mother left the room, Erza got out of bed and she started contemplating what she had forgotten, she knew every time she slept there was never blackness, never dreamless...she _always_ had dreams, be it a nightmare, or childhood memories which might as well be nightmares themselves. Suffice to say if she had a dreamless sleep, something was amiss; call her an unusual little girl and she will admit it, but little discrepancies like that grounded for contemplation in her opinion.

Then almost on instinct her mind picked something up...a name and a date she knew all too well..."Naruto...October 10th, why did I think of my birthday?"

* * *

**AN:** **This chapter is finally off my chest, my thoughts when writing this up is that I am still somewhat amazed (and offended) that the Rinnegan could be described as the 'final stage' of the Sharingan. Here is me reacting to it by saying, the only TRUE Rinnegan is the eyes of the Sage, the ones by Madara, Nagato and the likes are merely watered-down versions of his, it is an insult to the Rinnegan and to the sage to say the Rinnegan is the final stage of Sharingan.**

**So, what did you think about this Chapter? I had my reservations as to whether I pulled it off well enough because it was pretty much some theories I had bunched up into this chapter. Hope you also like the 'tale' which I will now officially call the "Sage and his Children", the writing style was actually inspired by old Mesopotamian stories like 'Epic of Gilgamesh'.**

**I will also reread my previous chapters after posting a new one so that I can further correct any grammatical errors, plot holes or irregularities and perhaps neaten them a bit more. I find when I post them and then read them as a reader myself I tend to find my own mistakes better...**

**Hope you enjoyed it, I warmly appreciate any reviews and constructive comments. Thanks!**

**Druid**


	6. Mass Effect

**AN: Well...it seems I just cannot let go of this story yet, it just keeps getting longer and longer. I was half expecting it to end at Chapter 4 the longest, but it looks like plans change drastically. I still have a clear ending to this in mind, but I seem to have place on myself the burden of expanding it. Anyway, this was a pretty tough chapter to write. Hopefully I got the characterisations right and believable. **

**This chapter...not sure how to describe it, I have been having a few rewrites of the content for quite a while as I was less than satisfied with how it played out. Now I have done what I planned and have posted it...pending your judgement. I can safely say EVERYONE knows who Erza is, so I will just lay it bare, this Chapter is purely character development and a little bit more of my theory being implemented. What is the theory, just read on.**

**On a side note, I checked the word count and my eyes bulged...over 10,000 words. I was not expecting that at all. There will be a lot of...content, and not much fights but hopefully it does not get too daunting.**

**Give me your thoughts, I spent a lot of time on it and I WILL appreciate any constructive comments.**

**Just note, the name of a character in this chapter would be _very_ familiar to those whom knows the series it concerns, but just to let you know it's only similarity is in name, nothing else. Why? It is an alias for the individual's real identity. ANy characters whom have names from other series I use are only as alias. OK?**

**Also, a big shout out to DiLost for his assistance in some translations and of course ideas, really appreciate them! IF you have the time, be sure to read his stories especially his _Samsara_ series. Revolutionary...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.**

"Conversation"

"[Elementaris/Shinobi Speech]"

* * *

It was actually surprising to say the least, prior to her birthday over the past years, the common thoughts and emotions flooding her mind were often of hate, despair, sorrow and anger. She mentally shuddered when she almost gave herself in to them in the early morning of her birthday, October 10th would have been a day of massacre if that happened. But ever since her 'insanity' as she now associate her other self, mysteriously became silent, her adoption and the killing of those monsters, she was starting to push these dark feelings deeper into the depths of her mind, and with a little luck, bury them. It was without a doubt she would never forget this painful past, but at least she felt there was now a chance to move on...

Now it almost seemed like the world became a lot brighter in her eyes, and for that Erza was thankful.

Regardless of her undernourished and overstrained physique, Erza wanted to start any training or initiatives the day she woke up in her new home, but her mother, Jane was once again adamant about her taking a whole week off from anything strenuous and really just start to live life like a normal ten year old for a change even if for seven days. In fact, even her father whom she found out was a rabid workaholic was supportive of her mother's decisions. Hence with a week without any formal plans, her mother decided to take her to the commons area of the metropolis for shopping, something she did not really have the time or 'security' to partake in when she was alone, so Erza was not really that enthusiastic about it...

Frankly speaking, Erza doubts she would ever be enthusiastic when she heard the word shopping, the television was a curious machine, it was already three days into her first week as a Shepard and she would admit she has used a television more often than that she ever would over a year in the Orphanage.

Erza felt her mind wandering, and so she thought back about the shopping issues, and what she saw was less than pretty...

Commercials for...Clothing shopping, how could one woman or girl be able to buy so much apparel and footwear and still say it is not enough was well beyond her comprehension. As shocking as that sounded, even men were subjected to this plague. To her, buying clothes were just for that, to clothe you, making sure you were sufficiently warm on a cold day or well protected in harsh places, anything else was a waste of time, counter-productive, unnecessary..._foolish_.

She was now far more informed about..._existence_ than she ever was before. News programs talked about different planets in greater detail, different systems and most importantly on wars. It was always about war...whether it bred from hatred,stupidity, arrogance or blind ideals it resulted in the same outcome, death._ The cycle of violence never end, and the reasons for violence ever petty, ever pathetic, such reasons a disgrace for existence, that must be destroyed._

Wait where did those thoughts come from?

Once again she silently thanked her saviour whom was now _her_ god, when she found out her mother practically hated those type of people and their lifestyles, evidence being her over-dramatic gag reflex when she asked the older red-head. Perhaps being in the military made sure practicality was paramount when talking about apparel...or it was another similarity she had with her adoptive mother.

Despite that, she still spent a good few hours with her mother in *shudder* clothing shopping, reason being the clothes she currently had on were all too big for her or as what her mother said, made her look like a "starving child". Thankfully they were all practical clothes which normally included t-shirts, pants and very durable walking shoes, suffice to say her mother was not in to fashion and Erza would not have it any other way.

* * *

First week, fourth day, 4 hours after shopping hell:

Erza sighed melodramatically after getting her last set of clothes, this was taxing to her mind in a very different way, her mother chuckled and told her "well sweetie, that may be a few hours you may never get back from your life, but I can safely say you will never need to do this again...except maybe when you outgrow these or tear them." Erza rolled her eyes, she just hoped to leave this clothing booth as soon as she could and perhaps just go home.

Whilst walking back to their shuttle, she heard her mother ask, "since we ARE in a shopping district, there is way more stuff to see than clothes, anything caught your eye?" Erza shook her head, believing there was nothing in this bazaar that could interest her...but then something _did _catch her eye.

It was a booth called "Nos Astra Sporting Goods", it sold a variety of wares mainly a lot of weapons, but it was also fitted with a reasonably large display, in it containing models of various model ships of all sizes and designs. Erza felt herself stop in her track and eyeing each and every model...she caught eye of various shuttles, a few alliance ships that she saw flew over and one absolutely massive model that she had not seen before. She took a few steps closer to the displays and took in every little detail of the massive model, it resembled a pentagon and consisted a central ring which , from which five 'arms' protrude. At first glance it did not look outstanding at all compared to the other ships models in the display but Erza somehow knew this was the most outstanding of the other models. She inspected the various arms closer, and saw small 'structures' within them, almost as if there were buildings of sorts. She was so deep in appraising the model she did not realise she was drooling.

She then took a peek at the price that was ever so conveniently placed by the side of the model in display, her eyes bugged out...950 Credits! That was far, FAR more than the monthly allowance Anderson gave her and everyone else when she was orphaned, as a matter of fact, she could acquire 950 Credits if she did not use her allowance at all and save it for a whole year! She was somewhat heartbroken, but that did not stop her from gawking the model again.

She also did not see her very amused mother talking to the Salarian shopkeeper manning the booth,

"The people I normally see drooling over a _CE-__2155_ _Perfect Grade Citadel_ model would be fighter pilots in the the Squadron or a few of the Ship commanders docking on Earth and have some time to shop... so many people I lost count and I don't remember half of them. This is the first time I have ever seen a ten year old little girl drooling over ship models. That's some very strange girl you have there ma'am, and I mean _very_ strange, observation and market-based research of customers and consumers suggests that the common young females of human species demonstrates an ongoing obsession..." The Salarian then received a firm punch on the face by the older redhead. Upon recovery he wanted to forcefully demand the reason for being punched but was cut short of that train of thought when he bore witness of the woman's ominous smile...

"Don't you call my little girl strange now you hear, you don't know what _type _of people you tend to offend saying that...and stop talking crap. Citadel, how much? Now!" the Older Shepard practically interrogated the shopkeeper...

"for you 850 Credits, don't kill me!" the Salarian almost squeaked out, she nodded in satisfaction, intimidation tactics keep annoying people quiet, and can work well as a haggling tool. Drop in an unfittingly gentle smile in such situation the chances of success are raised tenfold. With that 'negotiation' done, Jane transferred the credits to the shop's console, and the keeper went to the display to disassemble the Citadel model for compact storage.

Back to the young Shepard, when the model was stored away, Erza let out a loud whine, she wasn't done with inspecting every single detail of that outstanding model, she was pretty sure it must be sold already otherwise there was no reason for it to be stored away. She had quarter the mind to ask her mother if she could purchase that model... but it was close to 1000 Credits which she believed was a little too much to waste on her. At least she did not have to keep thinking about the model since _someone_ actually bought it...

"Hey sweetie", Erza heard her mother call out to her, she looked back, "Think Fast!", she then saw her tossing a reasonably large box in her direction which made Erza squeaked in surprise, but nevertheless she still managed to grab on to the box that was flying into her face, a little slower it could be a rather embarrassing experience.

She was about to ask her mother what the box contained, but she decided to just look at it before asking unnecessarily; it was a reasonably large box, had a very vivid picture of the Model she was gawking at, with the words Citadel and a 950 credits tag on the side...cue realisation.

"Mom, I don't want it that's okay! You can return it back and keep the 950 credits!" Erza voiced out frantically, she was aware that 950 credits could buy a lot of things, whether it be food, water or even lodging for a few weeks. Her experience in the slums further reinforced that thought.

Her mother went back to Erza from the booth, "Actually, I got it for 850 credits and since it was really obvious you like what you saw, I thought might as well buy it."

"But mom, 850 is still a lot of credits...who knows when you or dad will need it...or when someone else needs it." She looked back at the box "this is just a luxury, it serves no use, just for show. To people back at the slums, these much credits can give them a roof over their head, food, and water...please reconsider." frankly, Erza felt like a criminal for being the reason why so much money was wasted for something that had no use.

"Erza, look at me" the younger red-head looked up at her mother, she then received a light bonk on the head by the older red-head. As she was rubbing her aching head her mother spoke, "what did I say Erza, I told you I am buying something for your birthday and now I have, so don't go thinking that all these was a waste because it isn't. You are just as important as any person here, so you certainly deserve a little something." she heard her mother give off a sigh, "this is the first time I have seen a little girl think so much for others but not herself. It's very nice of you to think of others sweetie, but at times, being a little selfish is OK, we are all _human_ after all." This made Erza scratch the back of her head again and gave her mother another sheepish look. She felt that she might...have overreacted a little bit, since her mother though it was Credits well spent, she would respect that opinion.

Nevertheless, if she somehow managed to earn credits in the future, she would be sure not to waste them, there is only so much a person would need and the rest can be spared for any emergencies...though she would keep some available to collect models in the future, some of them were works of art..

CItadel, she would also want to set foot on the real place, one day...

* * *

It was a very slow week for Erza, the only thing that was in her mind during the first week of her new life was when she could start to train, and become stronger. If there was one thing she really preferred in any shape or form, it was the desire to progress. For the past 10 years of her life all she experienced was a painful and hopeless continuity, and with her adoption, she felt that things would certainly progress. She really wanted to become stronger, and suffice to say since her parents are very skilled and experienced soldiers, she was very excited when they agreed to train her, and in the near future, enrol in a military academy.

Second Week:

And after the first week, Erza had to admit that when her parents said they were going to train her, well they mean it.

Her parents, or more specifically her mother was a bona-fide slave-driver when it came to organising and running training sessions. Some of the things she was subjected to were harsh. On the very first day, around 5.00 am in the morning she was ordered to run for 2 hours on a heavy-duty military grade N7 treadmill with 10 Kg weights on her arms and legs, whilst having a perpetual speed of 10 kilometres and hour, and her mother said that because she is still young, she could take it easy...how could she comment on that? Harsh it was, Erza did acknowledge the effectiveness of such an intensive morning program, her stamina was often better than other children back at the orphanage and she did observe that after her first week, she felt more energetic than she normally would after her visits to hospitals back in the past.

That being said, she did not LIKE what took place during mornings from now on...

The bulk of the second week was focused on improving her overall physique and stamina, as per required for any aspiring applicant to the Military. Hence visiting obstacle courses, more endurance tor...training and the odd martial arts practice from her parents filled the week. There was also a very significant change to her dietary plan, since they observed that what she had eaten over the years only filled the bare minimum of her nutritional needs. Erza wanted to eat ramen, but that was not a healthy dish, that was a bit of a sore point for her when she found out she could not eat it often.

Moving on, another new component of her training, which she personally requested her mother to teach her on the very last day of the week, was how to use a Monomolecular Blade the same way her mother could. The thought of deflecting bullets with such precision and in her mother's case, effortlessness was something she did not want to pass on it just looked so cool!

Which leaves Erza in this present situation

Second week, Saturday evening, Shepard training quarters

"You have to do better than that honey!" spoke her mother in a firm voice, her face was serious, and in her right hand was a wooden sword. From what her mother has said, the wooden sword was known as a _bokken, _a Japanese word for literally 'wooden sword'; it is a very effective tool in practising how to use a sword...and to beat people senseless without 'accidentally' killing them.

Erza had a bokken in her left hand, she is on the ground for perhaps the 28th time panting hard and her body was reasonably bruised, suffice to say one of the key steps to starting her training in this ancient weapon style was a 'preliminary' spar with her mother, but to her it was more of a one-sided beating.

The younger red-head growled before rising up to her feet and charged, trying hard to land a hit on her mother, the key word being tried because her strike was once again parried without effort and she was hit in the back. That made her fall to the ground again, and a new bruise on her back.

Her father was watching at the sidelines and he had to wince whenever his wife landed a hit on their daughter.

"Hm, I think I am very sure where you need to start working on" her mother said to herself, and then looked back at her daughter's struggling form, her face softened but her voice remained firm, "Sweetie, I'll ask you one last time, are you sure you want to learn how to use a Monomolecular blade? You are already going through a lot of tough training, and this might just be the harshest it will get, any person wanting to master sword-art will have to learn it for close to ten years. If you say yes, I expect you to see through it to the end, so if you want to pull back, just let me know".

Erza tried to lie on her back and raise her head slightly; that sounded like a challenge and she would be damned not to accept it, she faced her mother with a determined look, "Hell yes I'm doing it mom, I wanted to learn how to use the sword like you, I'm not backing out from it. And you said ten years, I'll do it in five!" her voice struggled out before her head fell again.

She did not see her mother and father share the same nostalgic smile on their faces...

"I'll take your word on that Erza Shepard, don't let me down." her mother replied, she then reached to Erza's exhausted form and carried her, "I think that's enough for the day, just rest up for the night." Her father soon joined the both of them, and he added his few words, "you are going to have a _hard_ five years ahead of you Erza, and by the way I spoke to the Chancellor, we will meet him in the Academy Headquarters at the Capital next week and we will see where we go from there all right?" Erza gave a slight wave of her hand as a response, feeling too tired to give anything verbal.

John and Jane's POV:

After they left a now sleeping Erza in her bedroom, John and Jane closed the door behind them, and both looked at each other. As that happened, both of their eyes changed entirely, John's clear blue and Jane's bright violet morphed in a metallic purple and the concentric circles started to take form in the entirety of their cornea and iris. Jane's face looked calmer, but John's face became entirely devoid of emotions.

It would have been clear to any Elementaris denizen, if they still existed that the older Shepards were Paths, vessels of the Cycle.

Jane then spoke to her husband, in a very familiar ancient language, "[So, does Jigokudo really approve of having Erza join the academy at such an early age? He always had problems when it came to considering applications by individuals who are 'not ready' according to his opinion. She is only ten years old for Kami's sake.]" John gave a contemplative look before giving his response, "[I have approved of it, you have approved of it, I do not see what reason that Jigokudo would refuse the request. She has faced hell and escaped from it once, she has become stronger from the experience. I believe that he will deem her ready, even for such a tender age, perhaps that could even be a benefit on Erza side...]".

Jane/Ningendo continued, "[what about the public, they are certainly not going to be...tolerant having a little girl of all people joining the military academy, won't you think?]"

"[Indeed, this is no longer the Elemental Nations, this is certainly no Hidden Village. I believe Jigokudo will make the necessary arrangements.]"

Jane gave an acknowledging hum and there was silence as both Shepards started to descend the stairs and took a seat at the sofa.

Jane then gave a smirk to John, "[You know, for the personification of God-Complex, you seem to have warmed up to our daughter quite a bit even on the first day. I would have thought the great almighty Tendo would give anyone a cold shoulder and an air of superiority.]" John/Tendo's brows started to twitch before he responded, "[you do realise this is all part of nurturing the young girl to her fullest potential. I do not deem the display of outward affection to be beneath me in any way Ningendo.]" Jane/Ningendo remained unconvinced and gave her fellow Path a questioning gaze. Tendo merely stared back for an extended period of time, before he sighed in defeat. His emotionally-devoid face now presenting a semblance of sadness.

"[How could we _not_ convey genuine affection to the child? We are all shards of Rikudou given sentience, our base thoughts, and our memories are shared in every way. That includes the image and memories of those we loved all so well, the memory of our salvation, and our chosen of the Samsara...]"

"[Chosen of the Samsara, that is a pretty messed up way to say our first daughter don't you think? And _you _call Rikudou's wife Salvation?!]" Jane/Ningendo retorted.

"[Descendant, Chosen, daughter, offspring, they are all the same within the conventions of our semantics. They mean the same, we may have been disappointed with our first two offspring but our third...was the only person to make us proud. The person we were fully willing to give our affection to...unconditionally.]"

John/Tendo started to reminisce"[Looks like little Erza reminds us of our _first_ daughter and our mother, she reminds us of how it is to truly be human. Unsurprising given that Existence itself is governed by the law of cycles.]"_  
_

"[Also doesn't help that she reminds him of what it was like to be the Uzumaki Naruto once upon a time...are you sure she will be the one to bring an answer to _our_ _question?_]" Jane/Ningendo spoke back. John/Tendo replied "[there is no doubt, we had to change the cycle itself to guarantee this outcome. These forty thousand years will pass in time, and with it the last.]"

There was silence between the Couple/Paths until Tendo decided to speak again.

"[Ningendo, what was the reason for the sudden urge to question _me_ about my show of affection?]"

Jane/Ningendo shrugged before replying, "[Just wanted to see if God had a heart. Now I know you do...sometimes I really appreciate Master for giving us our own mind and self.]"

* * *

Erza had to spend another whole weeks worth of gruelling training and exercise before the Chancellor as her father called it was free enough to see them. Hence she still performed the prescribed endurance tests as well as heightened blade combat sessions with her mother, which now took place evenings of every weekday. As of yet, she was still having a hard time actually dodging her mother's strikes in spars, let alone landing a hit, but she did feel more and more comfortable with handling a bokken and after being coached endlessly with how to wield a blade according to her mother's standards, she was slowly but surely learning the steps to master this style.

Her recovery after every day's worth of strenuous training was also stunningly fast, Erza notices her bruises actually heal in a matter of hours, and her lost stamina replenished after fifteen minutes. She knew one way or another it had something to do with the tattoo on her navel, as ever since it was part of her, she became more energetic, focused and surprisingly...level headed, less prone to succumb to any emotional backlashes that would hamper her performance in whatever she was doing.

Though something was amiss...

Erza took full advantage these new-found benefits and used it to improve on her blade forms and katas that her mother taught her. She promised to her parents and to herself that she would master her mother's blade-work in five years instead of ten, she would be damned if she did not keep that promise. Most of her late-night training lasted for four to five hours before she would truly pass out from exhaustion. For the second week of training, it practically surmounted to over ten hours with periodic breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

On the weekends of the second training week, her parents decided that she should gain a further understanding of her biotic capability and learn to control it. As such, Erza and her parents were back at the training room of the Residence. She was looking at her parents, waiting for their instructions...

"Okay Erza, this is the first time for a while since you have demonstrated your biotic abilities, so I recommend that you start things slow and steady. Firstly, do you know or are you aware of what biotics are?" Her father asked. Erza was unsure as to the nature of the ability she had demonstrated, other than the fact that it is called 'biotics' so she just shook her head.

Her father nodded, and went into a lecturer persona, "Biotics, is essentially the ability of lifeforms, in other words organics to manipulate mass effect fields by using Element Zero nodules embedded into each and every individual's body tissue. Element Zero, also known as Atomic Number 0, or Ez for short is a rare material that when subjected to electrical current, and dark energy, can be manipulated into a mass effect field..." the words seem to drown out the more Erza heard, them she knew they were important but she just could not for her life make sense to all of the technical words that came out of her father's mouth, hence in the middle of the lecture, her mind started to space out from a combination of information overload and lack of foundation understanding.

"Are you keeping up with me Erza?" she heard her father said, with that her mind returned and she looked at her father, whom had an miffed look on his face obviously not appreciating the fact that she was not concentrating. She scratched the back her head again, something she had been doing over the three weeks but it was something she often did not realise.

"Hehe, sorry dad, I couldn't keep up, there was just too much information and a lot of terms I did not understand...is there an easier way to understand it?" she asked her father. She felt bad that she could not understand his lecture, but it was far too complex for her as of yet. But she nevertheless wanted to understand the nature of her powers, made sure that she could control it better and use it when absolutely necessary.

Her response came in the form of her mother, "let me explain it to her John, what she needs is a simplified version of what biotics is, then when she knows more, you can go on with your boring lecture, how about that?", John just looked blankly at his wife before conceding and motioned for his wife to continue.

"Okay, I suppose you know about the universe sweetie", Erza gave her mother a nod, "well, the Universe is a constantly expanding and changing, one of the reasons it changes is from something called Dark energy, this energy influences everything that exists, period. Now how Element Zero comes into the picture is when used in combination with Dark energy, which exists everywhere, it can produce something called _Mass Effect_, not much clearer explanation to that, but Mass Effect is _very _useful as you can see from what your father and I have done, and what you did back at the orphanage. In fact, it is currently used to power our shuttles and ships! We have 'nodules' Element Zero in our bodies and as a matter of fact all of us do in different amounts, only some of us can use it to create Mass Effect, if you can do that, you are a biotic. So does that help?"

Erza kept track of what her mother said, it was certainly a lot less technical compared to her father but she was aware that was significantly simplified compared to her father's lecture. But as of now, she knew the basics and she hoped that would be enough. So she gave her mother a more enthusiastic nod, a little curious as to when she could try to harness this energy again, despite the fact that she received hell for doing so...but that was in the past now, so just bury it and look forward.

Her father took over again, after giving a lingering stare towards his wife's smug face, he then instructed, "now, I recall that you know how to use biotics generally, you visualise a specific effect and allow your mind to process it, with that your Ez nodules will create electrical impulses that will trigger a reaction with dark energy and hence a Mass Effect for the purpose you visualise takes place. Due to your outstanding circumstances, you will not require any amplifier implants, but we will see about that." Erza was getting increasingly overwhelmed with information again until her father continued, "now Erza, I am giving you a challenge that no one else other than us have achieved, I want you to empty your mind and visualise having mass effect energy coursing through your entire body and _understand_ it, if you can do that the first step to learning _real_ biotic abilities becomes open to you, so take your time because you will need it..."

"What your father is trying to tell you is meditate until you can call upon Mass Effect at will, and to keep it circulating in your body" Her mother added.

Erza nodded, closed her eyes and took a seat on the floor of the training room, she tried to visualise just so, Mass Effect coursing through her without purpose and as of yet nothing took place.

Three Hours Later:

This lasted for about three hours , and Erza's brows were twitching, she was getting increasingly annoyed, the lack of progress was starting to grate on her nerves. Her parents came in and out of the room to check up on her but otherwise it was herself.

She could not understand! She could pull items and levitate objects when she first met her parents, but she could not let the energy alone course through her body without an outlet...

Perhaps the main problem was, she did not understand what it mean to be a biotic...how they viewed Element Zero or Dark Energy or whatever! She was essentially in a block, and she could not discover how to get the energy to course through her...

Her mind wandered, she did not _understand_ Mass Effect, all she received were possible explanations of how it happened but at the end of the day they were just that, possible explanations. Understand...what did her father mean by that?

But then, she felt her vision changing ever so gradually, the blackness of her closed eyelids started transitioning. It remained dark mind you, but she felt like she was in a different place, a large spherical space of nothingness, except for the top of the 'ceiling' which had an unmistakeable image of a single eye she knew so well. She felt herself floating at the centre of the large spherical space. Erza's mind soon detached from her real location and her consciousness left her, instead taking full trance in this hallucination. She did not realise that her eyelids opened by themselves and replacing those emerald green orbs were the Rippled eyes of the Sage.

Back in the empty space two flames of equal size started to burn to her left and right, one was Blue, the other Red...she started to hear voices that were not hers, it was Rikudou's voice she noted absently..

**"Matter makes up all that exists, and with matter there is Mass. If Chakra is the physical and spiritual energy that flowed within every person, be it human or otherwise, then what energy flows outside the person? What is the energy that governs all that exists outside the vessel of a being? It is inferred into the fabrics of existence, guiding it and influencing it. There is to be no explanation to it nor should there be, but it will exist, seemingly absent but is omnipresent, seemingly impotent but is omnipotent...God in every right, a God that is beyond comprehension, a God that demands respect." **She heard the voice in her head, it should once again confuse her significantly, but it did not, she acknowledged those facts, understood them in its entirety. A silhouette slowly formed in front of her, a figure fully covered by the darkness of the space, the only noticeable characteristics were his Horned head, his Rippled eyes and his red Necklace, she knew who the person was...both of his palms were opened, and two different coloured energy 'spheres' erupted from his hands, one was a black spiralling sphere in his left hand, the other was a bright electric blue in his right.

**"What is the energy that flows outside the person, that exists everywhere? It cannot be explained thus it would be called Ankoku no Chikara, energy that influences matter, hence it influences mass that much is clear. However that is merely the catalyst, but there needs to be matter for there to be a result, a precursor element that triggers creation...the Primordial Element, the tool of God. Used together they create, and they destroy, an acceptable outcome, a contradiction without a paradox. The process...Shisturyo Koka."**

**"Chakra...the power to defy one's own conventions of limits, Shitsuryo Koka...the power to defy the conventions of space and time. ****Shisturyo Koka**, the power of God, the voice of creation." Rikudou clapped both of his palms together, the different spheres mixed in his closed palms. Moments later, his entire body started to radiate in a familiar energy, not the one that she saw him use, no. It was familiar to her because she used it, the lightning-like energy surged around his body repeatedly, Erza knew well enough what that was. After a few seconds of having energy coursing around him, he released it all in one large ripple of power. The Sage of Six Paths, upon his second Cycle, had discovered Mass Effect...

Upon that discovery, Erza started to regain consciousness and her mind returned back to reality, the Ripple Eyes that temporarily replaced her own orbs disappeared. Once her mind was lucid again, she shook her head vigorously to get rid of all of the traces of her trance, and looked around...the room remained unchanged and her parents were nowhere to be seen as of yet. So she decided to continue with her meditation, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she then tried to conjure raw mass effect again. Though there was a big difference compared to minutes before, this time she was aware of what she had to do, and how to alter her thoughts...

**Ankoku no Chikara**, her mind told her that meant Dark Energy; it was everywhere, it acted as a catalyst for Ez, element of creation and when they were used together, ******Shisturyo Koka** which she instinctively knew was Mass Effect, took place...but how? How did two things work together to create the result?

Friction...everything started with friction. She did not know why she knew that but she just did.

She pictured Dark Energy visibly coursing through her body and Element Zero within her being manipulated according to her thoughts almost like a voluntary muscle. The friction between Element Zero and Dark Energy intensifying and she willed it to go further. Slowly but surely...she felt a spark of energy erupting across her body and became stronger, moments later she felt herself being lifted off the ground.

Erza then opened her eyes, and was surprised to see she was literally floating above the floor of the training room, she felt her jaw dropping slightly. She then looked at her body and saw the red biotic energy that she became closely acquainted with circulating around her, almost as if it was alive. Despite her surprise, she still managed to keep rein on the latent biotic energy coursing through her, making sure not to release it until her parents caught eye of this, but she did admit keeping it in her was starting to put a strain on her entire body.

She did not have to wait long as she saw her father entering the room, and he looked impressed, "Now that is really unexpected, it was a stretch to see if you could do it when no one else could. I was starting to fear your mother, myself and a few others were the only ones. People lacked the understanding of mass effect and of their abilities, you understood it and unlocked yours in close to four hours. I knew you were special Erza." She would have felt sheepish from the praise if not for holding back the latent energy that was becoming increasingly unstable. The lack of an outlet and the fact that she unknowingly willed more energy to be produced was giving Erza the feeling that her entire body was slowly boiling, she would need to have an outlet soon...

"Now that we know you can muster your biotic potential, I will need to know just _how much _of it you can generate. Now Erza stop keeping the growing mass effect in your body, release it now, all of it." Her father instructed.

She was very unsure of what would happen if all the biotic energy was released in one go, but she presumed her father knew of any consequences and deemed it safe, so she did just so.

POV Change

Jane was heading to the training room to check her daughter's progress, and as that happened, she felt a large tremor coming from the training room. This was reason enough to quicken the pace and she bolted to the training room.

She was then met with a very fascinating sight, a large hole through the wall separating the training room from the hall way that was suspiciously close to human-shaped, and now lying on the hallway floor was John, whom was struggling to get up again.

"[What the heck happened here Tendo, and why didn't you use the door like a normal person? Beneath your godly status?]"

"[This is not the time for a situational remark Ningendo, Erza successfully unlocked her full biotic potential. I asked her to release all of the energy, _this _happened.]" John got up and discretely relocated his shoulder, there was no expression of pain coming from him.

"[So I suppose our little girl doesn't need amplifier implants then?]" Jane responded with a smirk.

"[I will disregard that rhetorical question...on a side note, we might just be seeing the first human Pure-Biotic, a exceedingly powerful one at that. Ten years old biologically and already stronger than an Ardat Yakshi, which means _a lot _of control exercises.]"

Erza's POV

She felt the relief of expelling the entirety of biotic energy that was becoming increasingly unstable in her body, and then heard a very loud explosion-like sound across the training room. She felt herself fall back to the ground, signifying that all the mass effect was gone from her system. This was her cue to open her eyes;

The training room now looked like a wreck, the floors were destroyed in an almost ripple-like pattern and many items that were placed in the room were now lying everywhere. Erza started to panic, she has caused so much damage to a room, with this she thought that her father would get angry. She then looked around for any signs of her father and she saw none, except for a man-sized hole through the wall at the edge of the room. It was then her heart sank, she knew her father was forced through the wall with the release and was very likely hurt. She felt terrible and afraid of how her parents would react to her.

She saw her parents coming through the hole, her guilt took over her emotions and she rushed to them.

"I'm so sorry dad for causing so much damage and hurting you! I'll be more careful please don't be angry!" Erza continued to apologise profusely, her parents blinked for a short moment

Both her parents blinked repeatedly, before her mother placed both hands on her shoulder, "Calm down Erza!" she calmed down and her mother pointed to the hole in the wall, "you mean for that?" Erza nodded doubtfully, still unsure of how to react now.

"There's no need to apologise, your father asked you to release all the biotic energy, and you did. It was his fault if he got hurt, which he is not by the way. You did _nothing _wrong sweetie, don't blame yourself." Erza continued to eye her mother, whom had a reassuring smile throughout the conversation, soon she felt like a very large weight was off her shoulder. She gave a sheepish smiled back at her mother but could not help but give an apologetic look to her father. Her father chuckled and shook his head.

"Besides, he is suppose to be a war veteran, being blown through a wall won't take him down. So don't worry, I think he should be thanking you for giving your father a little endurance exercise..."

Cue another withering glare towards the older red-head whom remained unaffected, her father diverted his attention back to her, "now that we know how strong your biotic capabilities are, though I feel that the word strong is an understatement..." Erza looked embarrassed at that comment, "I believe the first thing you will need to do is to control your abilities, if you try anything else, I fear that the mass effect will cause damage not just to us, but to yourself. But that is a problem for another day, I say it has been a fruitful three hours, many other human biotics take months or even years to _use _biotics, and you went the extra mile in just a few hours." she saw her father's proud smile and she could not help but feel happy that she had made someone she cared about proud of her.

He ruffled her hair, something she was now very used to when it came to her father, it always reminded her eerily of her saviour..."we will be heading to the academy tomorrow morning, you will meet with the chancellor there. He is an old friend so don't worry." with that her day of training ended, and Erza was left feeling excited, but also nervous about tomorrow's plans.

* * *

Alliance Military Academy Headquarters, Erza's POV:

This was another dramatic sight for the young red-head, the military academy was a very large establishment located at the centre of Metropolis 1 capital city of the Earth. She could see countless shuttles entering and exiting the complex and a fair few ships docking as well. She was overly excited to be able to enrol into the military academy, and learn more about what lives people like her parents went through, and the fact that it was another stepping stone to become stronger.

When her parents parked their shuttle at one of the reserved lots, they had their doors opened by one of the sentries that patrolled the grounds. As the Shepards move through the grounds and into the buildings; officers, soldiers, and other military personnel gave them firm salutes, which her father returned, whilst her mother merely waved or just say "how ya' doing?", this got a disapproving look from her father.

After a few minutes of walking, she was now outside a large door, possibly an office, on the side was the owner of the office's name and status.

_Lord Mael Radec, Chancellor of System Alliance Military Academy, Co-Chairman - N7_

"Oh yeah sweetie, when you do meet with him, just keep in mind that he is very uptight, demanding, grumpy, and has a 'holier than thou' attitude. So don't worry if he gives you the cold shoulder when he talks to you, he gives it to everyone. But when you get to know him, he's alright." Her mother told her.

Her father continued, "And Lord Radec strongly appreciates honesty, and confidence, keep that in mind as well Erza."

The Shepards entered the office, and the secretary drone outside his private office spoke to her father, "Lord Radec is on vid com with the Chairman of Cerberus Colonel Shepard, he will be with you momentarily". This was the first time Erza saw a drone, and she approached it to get a better look, however she managed to hear conversation at the other side of the closed door, and made out some of its content;

"All I am asking is why did you expel my operatives from the N7 program?" she heard a smooth voice call out, it was electronically muffled which might be a result of vid com...

"I believed I have made it clear, the applicant may have the physical requirements to take part of the N7 program, however what he drastically lacks is the correct mindset to bear the responsibilities that such a status would provide" spoke a deathly calm voice, which was muffled as well, but in a different way that she could not identify.

"You know that is unnecessary Radec, my operatives will require the best training they can receive, we are fighting for the good of humanity for Gods sake! How can we strengthen ourselves if you hold on to those impractical values?" for the good of humanity...to Erza that sounded exactly the same as those bastards from the slums, she felt her fist clenching slightly from hearing that phrase, a phrase spoken so often when they decided to make her life a living hell...she already hated the owner of this voice so much at this point.

"Your motivations and those of your splinter group are none of my concern, I have always ensured that the N7 program takes place in a manner that is impartial to all its applicants. Their requirements, whether it be physical demands or mindset all play equal role regardless of _who_ applies for it. The fact that no one other than the founders have completed it is an indication of the various flaws of the applicants themselves"

"Listen Radec-"

"Lord Radec, Chairman"

"Lord Radec, perhaps it is time I lay it all bare, in time Cerberus will break free from the Systems Alliance, and when it does, I require no one but the best to join me in our goal for human supremacy. You as well as the other founders of N7 are the best soldiers throughout the Sol System, and if I hazard a guess, perhaps the Galaxy. I can disregard this minor setback in respect to the principles of your Enclave, but I would also like to extend you and the N7 Collective, an invitation for a partnership with Cerberus. The System Alliance it too hamstrung with rules, regulations of the other alien races, it does not understand the needs of humanity as a whole, nor does it have the capacity to act according-"

"Say no more Chairman, I have vested upon myself a great deal of patience and forbearance hearing your complaints and idealistic rant. The N7 have no intention of considering such an offer for a foolhardy quest that will never see an end, and that decision is final." the calm voice retorted.

She heard the other voice sigh from the other, "I must say, that I am very disappointed with this outcome Lord Radec, and am very ashamed that you would not support the strengthening of our race. You have made a foolish mistake."

"My advice to _you_, Chairman Harper, is simple; do not take what is not rightfully yours. The road to _hell_ is paved with good intentions, and your intentions are unfounded and foolish...reassess the individual whom has made the _foolish mistake_. I believe that concludes our conference."

The conversation ended, and Erza was now informed of new things about the world she was living and her mind started to wander; everyone lived in an existence filled with hate, and unnecessary conflict. An existence where arrogance and stupidity fuelled actions that cause for harm than good, created wars and death; this _Cerberus_ would be one of the main players in the near future, that was what a part of her mind told her.

But as that mindset materialised, it was gone, and Erza was a little clueless as to what she was thinking a few seconds ago, how did that happen?

She failed to realise that she was still standing next to the drone, when it voiced out quite loudly, startling her, "Lord Radec is now available, you may enter his quarters" Erza fell on her rear, due to the abruptness of the Drone's response, and she heard another giggle from her mother, who promptly pulled her back to her feet. Then her parent went in the office, with her tailing them from behind.

She was then met with what could likely be one of the most intimidating faces she would ever see, well face being said quite loosely. Lord Radec looked strikingly familiar, perhaps because she had seen his face in the N7 photo that she looked at on her first night as a Shepard. His gas mask was ever present, covering his whole face with the exception of his cold brown eyes.

"Good day Lord Radec" her father greeted

"Hey Gas Mask!" her mother greeted

This elicit a sigh from the masked man, he looked tiredly towards her mother, "still demonstrating a lack of professional courtesy I observe Captain...Good day to you Shepards", his eyes turned serious, "not that I am unenthusiastic in meeting with comrades in arms, but I presume there is a basis for you to make an appointment with me today?"

"As a matter of fact we do, I am here to make a request for a person to enter the Military Academy, and to enlist in the Alliance Military when she is of age." Her father explained, Erza saw a single brow of Radec's raised slightly.

"Is that so? This is the first time I have received a personal recommendation or request to enrol an individual into the academy, no less from you Colonel. That being said, who is the individual and where is she right now?"

"Well, she is behind me Gas Mask, come on Erza don't be shy!" She felt her mother pushing her closer to Radec's table, and by then his attention was fully placed on her. She looked up to his eyes and she was intimidated with him on first sight. His eyes were a light brown, they were sharp and naturally calculating, and they bore into Erza analytically, she felt as if his eyes could look right into her very soul, passing judgement on her by eye contact alone. She was so tempted to look away from his intense gaze, but a part of her crushed that temptation, she wanted to get stronger and if meeting this man was going to help in achieve that, she would be strong. She met his gaze and tried to muster up any confidence she could acquire, and tried to politely greet the man in front of her.

"N-nice to meet you...Lord Radec, I am Erza Shepard." She spoke out but stammered slightly, even with the confidence she has mustered, she was still being intimidated by his presence.

His gaze lingered on her for a few moments longer, before he replied to her parents, "I do hope that your request is all in jest Shepards. Contrary to _popular _opinion, I have no fond interest in the training and recruitment of Child Soldiers, especially so if it is done against their will." He levelled a glare on her parents, but it looked like they were unaffected by said glare.

"Well you can be rest assured my friend, because our daughter here has chosen to join the military and has expressly requested formal enrolment, all on her own accord" Her father replied evenly, but still held a friendly tone with the masked man.

The brow of the masked man was raised again, "daughter, this is certainly news to me...though I suppose I can identify an uncanny resemblance to Captain Shepard, only exception being her eyes but then again could be a recessive trait from her side of the family-"

"She is our adopted child Radec, I was surprised myself for the resemblance, but nevertheless she is our daughter, and we have committed ourselves to take good care of her." Her father interrupted Radec, he had a knowing look on his face that she could not really decipher, but Erza suppose it was not too important.

"Adopted...existence works in very unusual ways. However, we are getting a little off topic here, a little girl perhaps ten years of age...requesting enrolment in a military academy. Even with your words of reassurance Shepard I still find it hard to believe that a child of such a tender age would willingly make such a decision..." Radec looked back at her, his gaze hardened again and she felt an almost cold chill run down her spine from the look.

"Girl, I will let you know right now that the decision on whether to consider your request or not rests entirely up to me and as of yet I am unconvinced. However I am curious, why do you want to be a soldier?"

It was a simple question, Erza knew it was, but when it came out from this man her mind practically went blank. She tried to remember why she made this decision; it was to be stronger, she wanted to be stronger to protect her precious people, she was afraid that they will disappear, and she was left alone again, in this cold, cruel world. She also remembered Rikudou's message, she also wanted to protect those who needed it.

"I-I want to get stronger, I want to protect those I care for. I am afraid of losing those I care for and to be alone and weak..."

"You are afraid girl?" Radec responded abruptly. Erza visibly shuddered by the sudden, quiet but cold voice of the masked man.

"If you are afraid, why are you here? Why do you bother to come here and ask me to grant you a favour made for the brave? We train soldiers here, not cowards, and certainly not foolish little girls like you whom just want to prove something petty-"

Every word the man spoke hurt, not physically but more emotionally. The worse part of it was what he said was mostly true, she was still afraid; that was perhaps one of the main reasons why she made this decision... She had been saved by Rikudou, and he had faith in her, and here she was having so little confidence in herself...she never had confidence in herself, despite her improved determination, the years of abuse had corroded a lot of her self esteem.

"Radec, that was uncalled you do not have to say that to her!" she heard her mother retort.

"Captain Shepard, it seems like if your daughter, adopted or not, is informed enough to decide to try her luck in entering the academy when she is clearly under-aged, I have every right to speak my mind, harsh or not that is immaterial." Radec replied calmly, before he continued his criticism. Her father was silent, watching the turn of events.

"Foolish little girl, do you know what soldiers actually do? I have served many years in the Alliance military and fought wars that could be best described as hell. Soldiers are trained for war, as long as there are individuals, there is always war, in its many forms. We deal with it at it's most extreme, it's harshest... That is what a soldier does, each and every one of them are to be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. They place their lives at stake, knowingly, willingly and without fear. They are _willing_ to go through hell, and that is not something a naive child like you can understand. Do not waste your time, and do not waste mine."

To Erza's surprised, instead of shrinking further from the man's words, she felt...anger? Indeed that was right, the moment Radec told her she had not seen hell before was the moment she started to feel angry. Though she was not angry that he was unaware of her childhood experience, it was from the fact that she as a child felt this hell, knew it so intimately that it disgusted her. All of these were products of hostilities, conflicts of opinions, of _hate. _A cycle of hatred that always followed everyone, one way or another.

She knew of hate, she knew it all too well and it was something she was not proud of admitting. What Radec assumed about her was untrue, she was no naive little girl, some orphans still held fast to those childish thoughts; they were always optimistic and hopeful, but she had outgrown that for as long as she could remember.

"That is not true Lord Radec, I am not naive." Erza spoke in a surprisingly even tone, gone were the feelings of being intimidated and that of fear. Radec himself seemed to stop speaking entirely and diverted his full attention towards her, perhaps his curiosity was sparked again due to the dramatic change in her demeanour.

"I will not say that I know the experiences of soldiers at war, because as you said that would be foolish. But I have spent ten years of my life as an orphan, and the last five years before my adoption, I have felt hate, I have felt hell. I have suffered for that many years, beaten, tortured, abused and I have never been strong enough to fight back, and the people who gave me hell, were always too filled with hate to understand their own foolishness, hating something that is different...something they do not understand." Erza lowered her head as she spoke, the bangs of her hair covering her eyes. She was only a child in age alone orphans grew up and matured faster than any other kid, and an orphan like her, who has only seen a life of pain, loneliness and sorrow could even understand things that only seasoned war veterans could.

She was tired of all the hate, tired of hearing reasons why people fight, why people die. She once asked herself what her purpose was, at first was to merely protect those whom she had opened her heart to, even if they did not need it. She also remembered her saviour, he said she could make a difference to this world if she wanted to...perhaps this was what she wanted. She wanted to bring an end to this cycle of hate, to bring an end to the pointless wars.

She looked up at Radec, "I want to learn from you Lord Radec, I still want to be stronger. I will protect the people I care for, and those who cannot protect themselves. One day I hope I can bring an end to this cycle of hate, an end to wars and an end to the hell that people experience every moment of their life. I want to bring _peace_." Erza spoke, marginally louder and this was the first time she had heard her voice sounding confident, fearless, hardened.

Radec moved his eyes closer to Erza, but she did not relent, she looked back at Radec's hard eyes with her own.

"Earth, is not the only 'world' that exists; the galaxy is a very big place girl, and in an existence so immense, you can never truly bring an end to the hate, you can never save _everyone_. Peace...has always been an illusion, no one not even God can bring peace to this existence."

Erza remained undaunted, "I am aware of that Lord Radec, but as long as I am here, I will keep trying. I have been broken and bruised before, and I am willing to sacrifice more in ending all these hate, and to protect those I can protect...with my life if I have to. Perhaps one day I will make you can eat your words, the answer to _peace_ is out there somewhere, and I am not giving up until I find it. "

Radec was silent, his gaze left Erza, it was only for a moment, but the little red-head notice it. He soon looked back, his voice sounded tired and aged...weary. "Girl, what made you think, that you can single-handedly bring an end to hate. What made you believe that you alone can make a difference?"

Erza looked down for a moment, a faint smile crossed her lips, she looked back at the masked man, "...because someone precious to me, has given me his faith...and I have faith in myself. As long as I do, I will keep trying..."

A long silence fell in the room, Erza's parents were quiet throughout the exchange, the emotions on their faces indiscernible. Radec's gaze lingered for Erza a little while longer, before he diverted his attention to her father.

"Shepard, deal with the enrolment formalities, and any other necessary documentation... I will organise special classes for your daughter in two weeks time...and deal with a few issues that would surely arise. Monday, 0700 hours she will meet with her instructor. Do not be late." Radec declared.

Erza was surprised, Radec whom seemed very likely to disregard her request a while ago seemed to have instantly granted her a place in the academy. However she was even more surprised _what_ she has said, she was aware of it but at the same time it felt different, almost as if she would not have been able to think and respond in such a way in her previous years. Maturity beyond her age is one thing, but what she had said came from a mind that could not be possessed by a child, it seemed foreign but was slowly defining her.

Over the weeks, she had felt strange; on one hand she was herself, a young girl trying to make good of her life and trying to hold on to some semblance of hope. She wanted to discover everything there was to know, wanted to be strong and most importantly, she wanted someone whom would care for her, so in return she had someone she would fight for. This part of her mind, was that of a child whom wanted to be happy and wanted no one else to feel what she felt.

On the other hand, there was a part of her that felt like she had seen everything there was to see about the world, whether it be on the surface, of below it. That part of her mind felt weary, almost as if there were so many imperfections in this existence to the point that she could feel herself getting increasingly angered towards it.

She was _young_, that was something she was very much certain about, but sometimes she felt _older_. It was almost as if she had lived or wandered this world or beyond for so long, that she knew how ugly it was, and just how much things had to change...there is enough hate, she would find peace, and make sure it was permanent, and if anything or anyone stops these changes from happening...she would _end _them, painfully if needed.

"Jane, take Erza out for now, I need to have a word with Lord Radec" she heard her father speak. She was about to be taken out of the room but the same just felt the urge to ask one last thing.

"Lord Radec! What about N7?" she called out. Radec looked back at her with questioning eyes, "What about it girl?".

"Mom said, the N7 are the best of the best, and I heard from a conversation you have with some 'chairman' guy you spoke to and he said the same thing. Mom said I could join if I am ready." Erza blurted out, the small part of her that was a child did not oblivious the repercussions of exposing the fact that she eavesdropped on a private conversation.

There was another silence, for what seemed like minutes Radec finally responded;

"We'll see..."

* * *

**AN: My goodness, I have finally finished this chapter, one of the hardest if I say so myself. Now of course I still have concerns with what I have written, the key concern being...DOES IT MAKE SENSE? What do you think? I know it is a fanfic but a part of me will always want to make sure everything I write has an explanation.**

**Some might question "ten year old, military?", well that would happen, but of course there will be behind the scenes work here and there, which would be explained in future chapters.**

**So...how was it? What did you find out? Expect amendments over the weeks when I read my chapters as a reader. Just to let you all know as well I also have work during these two months. I will update when I can!**

**Reviews are appreciated. Thanks!**

**Druid**


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